Thicker Than Blood
by Rast
Summary: 12,003 BC during the reign of Zeal Kingdom. One too many innocent tricks gets eight year old prince Janus in more trouble than anyone had ever imagined possible. Follows him until he becomes Magus, destroys Lavos and after the game. On indefinite hiatus.
1. Earthbound

**Thicker Than Blood  
****  
****Part One: The Wind  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Earthbound**

  
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"Wake from your sleep, fated children–  
The peace is gone."  
- Liberi Fatali, Final Fantasy VIII

  
___________________________  
  
  
Timeless  
  
A single, minuscule object in the universe, known to some mortal creatures as a star, went out and there was darkness where there had once been light.  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  
12,003 BC  
  
It was hot. It was wet. It was sticky. It was a spitball, and it hit Gaspar in the eye.   
  
He stood very still for a moment amidst giggling, his hand still poised over the chalkboard in the process of writing the word 'Earthbound.' This was not the first time a spitball had chosen his face for its target, and he knew it would not be the last, but he was still enraged, and understandably so. Anyone with another person's saliva and a wad of tissue in their eye had the right to feel just a little bit pissed off. How it had managed to hit his eye when his back was to the class, the Guru had no idea, but really did not care. Gaspar had a lot of experience with the seemingly impossible accuracy Janus possessed when it came to such things as spitballs and suction-cup arrows and mudpies turning up where they had no business being.   
  
The Guru turned around to face the class. He ignored the delighted expressions on the other children's faces. Yes, there he was, in the back at his own table with his booted feet propped up on its wooden surface casually, his arms crossed behind his head, leaning the chair backwards comfortably. There was no I just nailed you with a spitball you wrinkly old geezer smirk on his pale features. Already hidden in his robes was the glass spitball tube--the one thing Gaspar needed to get the boy taken permanently out of his class. Without hard evidence, Schala would not relent to private tutoring for her little brother -- taught by someone other than Gaspar, thank the gods.  
  
With as much dignity as he could muster, Gaspar rummaged around in a cabinet for a towel to wipe the spittle and disintegrating tissue from his eye.  
  
"All right," grumbled the Guru, returning to the chalkboard and standing in front of it with his hands clasped behind his back. He glared sternly at the class and the young prince in particular. "Very amusing. To continue with the history lesson..." He turned back to the board.  
  
Janus immediately tuned Gaspar's incessant droning out, pulling out the glass tube and loading it. Those closest to his table kept glancing back at him, warily eyeing the tube, and giving only half their attention to their instructor. To say Gaspar's teaching was boring was like saying the sky was full of air. It was pointless. Who cared about a bunch of dirty Earthbounds, anyway? Shooting spitballs was the only way to keep his sanity, Janus reflected as he sent a particularly sticky one arcing over three rows of tables to splat into the hair of a little blonde girl. Gritting her teeth, the child combed it out with her fingers and let the mess fall to the floor. She glared hotly and turned up her nose at the immature antics of the prince.  
  
Hmmm. They were growing an immunity to spitballs. Not good. There wasn't much left in his arsenal that wouldn't injure them. ...Mudpies? Janus thought about it, loading another spitball. Messy, but effective. It would require some sort of catapult...easy to build, hard to hide from Gaspar. The prince took aim and fired.   
  
The boy it was flying at ducked under the table to retrieve his feather pen. The saliva coated wad of tissue hit Gaspar in the butt. No one made a sound. Janus was too stunned to remember to hide his spitball tube. Gaspar whirled around, his cheeks red with rage.   
  
Gaspar closed his eyes. Gaspar counted to ten. But when the other wet wad firmly lodged itself in his left nostril, he lost it.  
  
"Ragh! That's it! I've had it with you!" The old man charged down the aisle and yanked the surprised looking prince to his feet. Dragging him along, Gaspar stormed out of the door. The moment it slammed shut, Janus snatched his arm away.  
  
"Don't you _ever _touch me like that again," he hissed through his teeth, glaring hotly up at the Guru of Time.  
  
Gaspar glared back just as hotly. His hands clenched into tight fists, nails digging into the palms, and his breath was coming in heavy gasps. Janus thought he had never seen someone so furious before. The old man whirled on his heels and started down the corridor briskly, barking a terse "Follow me." to the young prince. Despite the fast pace, Janus was determined to keep up. His robes swished around him as he ran.  
  
They drew amused stares from the palace citizens. A few laughed to see the spitballs on Gaspar; most everyone in Zeal Kingdom knew of Janus' troublesome nature, although he tried to hide most of it from his sister.  
  
Ah, there she was now. Schala stood leaning over a table, staring intently at a bunch of papers spread out on its surface. Her icy blue eyes narrowed in concentration, and a stray wisp of hair had fallen over her face. The other Gurus, Belthasar and Melchior, along with a bunch of stuffy bored looking court officials stood with her. She glanced up and caught sight of Gaspar with the spitball still lodged in his nose, shock clear in her eyes. Then she saw Janus her full mouth twisted into a frown as she straightened.  
  
"He's done it before, Your Highness, and if he wasn't the prince I'd have boiled him in his own blood ages ago," Gaspar was snarling. Fury made his body tremble. "He is snide, disrespectful, and arrogant. He doesn't appreciate a thing I've done for him. If he was any other child the punishment for such-"  
  
Schala silenced him by holding up her hand. She stared down at Janus her eyes hard. "I with agree with you completely, Guru Gaspar." She turned to the others. "If you will excuse us…?" They nodded absently, and dismissed her with a wave, not taking their eyes from the documents.  
  
Schala led Janus to a nearby floor-to-ceiling window, out of earshot of any others. He looked at her cautiously out of the corners of his eyes. She was furious with him. He could see it in the hard glint in her ice colored eyes. In all other aspects, his sister looked the princess. Cool, calm, collected. Hardly any external sign of the anger he knew was burning behind her cold façade.   
  
"You're on _their _side," he hissed through his teeth.  
  
"I think you should be punished, yes. Because you have been tormenting a dear friend of mine. Because you don't seem to realize how good you have it here and as a result treat everyone like shit. If that makes on 'their side' I'm sorry." She turned to look down at him. "I have been far too lenient on you. I thought you deserved it since Mother is acting as if you don't exist. And now I can see that Gaspar has been right all these years. You are a brat, you are spoiled, and you do need to be disciplined." Schala paused, her eyes still on him. "So. Anything you can think of that would suffice as reconciliation?"  
  
"_No_."  
  
"Good. I already have something in mind. Gaspar keeps me informed of your progress in his lessons. He tells me that lately you are studying Earthbound history. He adds that it seems to disinterest you noticeably more than the other subjects."  
  
Janus had no idea where she was going with all of this, but he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.  
  
"I'm going to send you to Algetty for three days. To save your pride, you can piddle off the excuse of wanting to further your knowledge about the fascinating culture they have down there."  
  
It didn't really sink in at first. _Algetty_? Janus thought, perplexed._ What in Hell is_…? His jaw dropped and his violet eyes widened in shock. He whirled on his sister, pale cheeks red in fury.  
  
"_Earthbound_?!" He shrieked when he could breathe again. "You're sending me to the _Earthbounds_?!" The young prince glared at her fiercely. She returned his gaze with cool indifference.   
  
Schala's was the only opinion that mattered to him. Not just because she had raised him after Zeal refused to even acknowledge his existence once he had been born. Schala was his best friend. His only friend. No one else took him seriously. No one else cared. She never turned him away, even if it was the middle of the night and he'd only had a bad dream.  
  
"Fine," Janus snapped at last, meeting her icy eyes in another glare.   
  
Her expression softened ever so slightly. "Three days. You leave tomorrow morning." She turned on her heels and started back to the table, where Belthasar was engaged in an intense argument with the officials over the contents of the papers. Gaspar had already gone back to his classroom.  
  
Heaving a heartfelt sigh, Janus plodded through the ornate marble corridors to his room; thankful that in the very least Schala had forgotten to send him back to Geezer Gaspar. It bothered him more than he liked to admit that she was disappointed in him.

Algetty for three days? He would do it, Janus decided. No matter how bad it was. He'd do it for Schala.

  
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Rast: This one's for you, Rachel! Hang in there it will get better, I promise.  
  
Also, the terms Lavoid and soul kiss belong to Nanaki, whose works can be found at icybrian.com. 

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	2. Algetty

**Thicker Than Blood**

**Chapter 2**

**Algetty**

___________________________

Some days things wouldn't go right if you paid them."

- Owen Deathstalker, Deathstalker Honor

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Timeless

The scales were tipped, the balance was upset, and powers beyond mortal ken shifted in favor of the darkness. The darkness grew stronger.

___________________________

12,003 BC

It was very early that morning when Melchior knocked on the door to the prince's chambers, but Janus was awake, sitting at his desk and working on the design for his mudpie catapult. Beside his chair was a small bag on the floor, already packed. He held up a hand, telling Melchior to wait a minute, and then bent over his design to add a few finishing touches.

His room was unexpectedly clean. The marble floor was polished to a shine, and the early morning sunlight streaming in from the window reflected off its surface. The prince's bed was already made up neatly. The desk he was sitting at was under the window, and beside it was a bookshelf, the volumes on it neatly arranged. There was no clutter anywhere. After a moment more, Janus finished his catapult drawing and stretched, yawning.

"Your Highness, the Earthbound may not...enjoy...having you there. It will be-"

"I know, I know, Schala's already given me the whole lecture." Janus dismissed his concerns with a wave and an irritated glare.

The old Guru sighed nosily through his nose. It was about time someone did something about Janus, before things went too far. Gaspar wasn't the only having trouble with the boy. A few months before, during an important banquet to which the prince was not invited, Janus had been responsible for an unfortunate incident involving two small trees, Dalton, and some of Queen Zeal's bed sheets. Naturally, the boy had been no where near the scene, and naturally there were reliable witnesses to say he'd been in bothering a Nu in Kajar, but no one save Schala doubted that Janus had been the guilty party. Melchior looked down at the prince, who was staring up at him with violet eyes wide with pseudo-innocence and sighed again. Maybe sending him to Algetty was a bit drastic, but Melchior sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to complain. He had enough problems of his own.

"All right," he said wearily, and put his hand on Janus' shoulder. "Here we go." 

Closing his purple eyes, Janus nodded his consent. A second later all his blood rushed sickeningly to his head as a white flash signaled the teleportation spell. 

It was dirtier than he'd expected, Janus noted when the spell's glow faded and he could look around. Algetty wasn't a cave in rock, it was a cave dug into the ground. There were people everywhere; most of them so dirty that if they stopped in front of a wall and didn't move for a few seconds, Janus couldn't tell they were there at all. Strangely, their appearance went almost unnoticed. A few Earthbound moved off to give them space but that was all. There were numerous torches set in the walls, casting flickering shadows around the room Melchior had teleported them to. It was round, with three tunnels leading off from it, one of which slanted upwards. There was a large wooden table in the room's center, sturdy looking but there were deep cuts in it, and in places its surface was stained. Most of the Earthbound were clustered around it, sorting through piles of what looked like bloody rags.

"Excuse me," Melchior said pleasantly to a young woman nearby. Janus wrinkled his nose in disgust. She was filthy, he could actually see the lice in her matted hair, and Melchior was speaking to her as she were Schala. "Would you please tell me where I could find Siris?" The girl grinned -- she was missing most of her teeth, Janus noted coolly -- and pointed at the slanting tunnel. "Thank you," the Guru said, bowing slightly before leading Janus off in that direction. 

As they moved through the crowd of people, a path opened up for them. Earthbound nodded their heads politely to Melchior, called a word of friendly greeting, asked him how was he doing, had his cough gotten any better? Yes, thank you, it was nice of you to ask, Emmi. He knew their names, Janus realized with a start. He actually knew their names. It was gross and vaguely disturbing. Melchior acted as a sort of ambassador for Zeal to the Earthbound; he had to have a certain amount of contact with them. But to know _all_ of them on a personal basis? And be _happy_ about it? Melchior would have to be watched, Janus thought, eyeing him suspiciously as the trudged up the tunnel. It was known that the Earthbound had a few sympathizers who thought they should be treated like royalty instead of the filth they obviously were.

The room at the end of it was smaller than the main one Melchior had teleported them to. The roof was made of dirt, and it was loose with roots trailing through it. Janus thought that was odd, because there were no trees above Algetty. It was warmer, and brighter. There were two thick wooden doors across the room, and Janus could see dents in the roof above them, where they opened and scraped against it. There was a small table off to one side and two men were sitting at it, staring at the Enlightened.

One of them was hardly worth noting. Matted brown hair, thick with dirt, blue eyes that were too innocent, his wide smile -- directed at Melchior -- too childlike. The other had focused his piercing gaze on Janus. 

The black wind was going absolutely crazy on him, shrieking and screaming, swallowing him up and Janus had to really concentrate to get a look at him. His hair was dirty blond and cropped short. He was decked out in hard black body armor that looked disturbingly to be made of some creature's scaled hide. Two curved swords were strapped crosswise on his back and he was wearing two belts of daggers across his chest. The challenge was in his pale green eyes, though. A cocky sort of _prince of Zeal or no prince of Zeal, you're just a kid down here, squirt, and I'm not going to let you forget who's really in charge of Algetty. The corners of his mouth twisted up slightly in what was almost a sneer. He stood to his feet, walking around the table and bowing at the waist. The other man just sat there, grinning stupidly._

"Welcome, Your Majesty, to the Earthbound village of Algetty."

"Your Highness," Janus heard himself correct the man automatically, and he narrowed his violet eyes at the black wind. _I got the message, now stop it. Leave him alone! Leave ME alone_! The black cloud-like wisps spiraled faster in response, and Janus thought he could faintly hear some great sinister being voice a deep, satisfied chuckle. 

'**Hardly alone,' it rumbled pleasantly. '****If _they_ have anything to say about it. And they will, you can be sure of that. Never could keep their prying fingers out of my business. They find me...irresistible.'**

Janus felt all the strength drain out of his body. It was the same demonic voice that haunted his dreams and left him screaming for Schala in the middle of the night. The faintly amused chuckle repeated itself.

'**They're ****stealing you from me, my little prince.' Its voice took on a pouting tone. '**All my hard work, all these long years, all for nothing. At least they can't take my Schala. Good as she may be though, in comparison she's nothing but sloppy seconds.**'******

'Who are you?! You can't have Schala!'

'**You amuse me, little one.'******

The black wind vanished.

"Oh," the man said, raising an eyebrow as he straightened, completely unaware of what had transpired. "Well, excuse me, Your Highness." He whirled around, smiling broadly at the other Earthbound. "Kirby! Show His Highness to the royal bedchambers, please."

Kirby actually bounced to his feet, and Janus was still too stunned to fight the hand that reached down and snatched his, tugging him towards one of the doors. The man grinned down happily at him, talking fast.

"Hey, my name's Kirby. What's yours? Siris called you His Highness, does that mean you're a prince? That's cool."

Melchior watched until they had entered the room and turned to Siris. "You'll look out for him?"

"Of course." His voice became low and intense. "The Mammon Machine?"

"A month, at most."

"You have to do better than that, Melchior, we aren't nearly ready." Siris leaned back, folding his arms over his chest, narrowing pale green eyes. "What did Schala say?"

Melchior looked uncomfortable. "Well, I-"

"You haven't asked her." The Earthbound closed his eyes and sighed heavily, growling low in his throat. "We're going to need someone with magic for this, Melchior, and I mean some _real_ magic, not what you and Belthasar have to offer. You think he's just going to let Zeal go without a fight? After all the hoops he had to jump through to get her?"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Melchior said quickly, backing away a step. "It's not exactly the easiest thing in the world to do, you know."

Siris stared at the old man in front of him and sighed. He hadn't meant to scare him. "I'm sorry," he relented. "It's not easy down here either." The Earthbound paused, a light coming on behind his eyes. "What about Janus? He might be hard to convince, sure, but tell him you'll get him a pony or something-"

"Wouldn't work. He doesn't have any magic."

Siris' eyebrows arched in surprise. "_Really_? Are you _sure_? That has _got to suck. Anyway, Melchior, if you don't get Schala in on this soon I'll tell her myself." Melchior started to protest and Siris held up a hand to stop him. "That's not important now. Do you have it?" _

"Will you shut up and let me-"

"No." The old Guru growled in frustration. "Hey, like father like son." Melchior glared for a moment, then reached into his robes and withdrew an object wrapped in black cloth. He held it out but when Siris reached for, snatched his hand up.

"You will not believe what I had to go through to get one of this quality."

"Okay, so I owe you, it's not for me anyway." Melchior looked doubtful. "Really! It's for her, alright?! Now what does she gotta do to make it work?"

The Guru sighed, holding the bundle out again. "She knew to ask for it, she'll know how to use-" He broke off abruptly when Janus and Kirby came back in the room. Kirby was still holding the prince's hand, prattling on happily. Siris snatched the bundle away from him and it disappeared somewhere in his armor.

"Schala is your sister? Man, that's gotta be real fun. She visits us sometimes and she's really nice and all. I don't have a sister but Siris is my brother and he's real nice, too, don't you think so? Oh, and what's really awesome is we've got a niece, even though she's not really related to us, she calls us her uncles and she's not always nice but she is really smart. I-"

"Kirby," Siris interrupted smoothly. "Say bye-bye to Melchior here. Janus, may I have a word...?" Gratefully, the prince detached himself from the now sniffling Kirby, looking a little dazed. "This way please." 

Siris led him down the tunnel, back into the crowded room. The people were more organized looking now, standing in groups around three large sleds. Two were empty; the other was piled with primitive weapons. Siris waved his arm proudly as if to encompass the whole room, a smile forming on his lips. 

"We're going hunting." He turned to Janus, and the prince thought that smile looked a little bit too sinister. "You're coming with us."

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	3. Snow Wars

**Thicker Than Blood**

**Chapter 3**

**Snow Wars**

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"Destiny."

"Coincidence."

"Same difference."

- Judging Amy

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Timeless

Beings of the darkness began to devour beings of the light. Wars were fought, battles raged, blood was shed, and still the darkness conquered, swallowing all that it touched, hungering for still more.

_Because of a star_?

Yes, love. Because of a star.

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12,003 BC

Snow was in his robes, in his boots, in his hair, and had even slid into his underthings. Janus would have thought it would melt if it got that far, but instead it went into a semisolid form, sort of gel-like. It was not a pleasant sensation, to have snow sloshing happily about in one's clothes like fish in a pond, but the Earthbound were in much the same state and actually enjoying themselves. The little ragged children would tunnel around in the deeper drifts, popping up randomly and hurling snowballs at the nearest victim. They were engaged in a sort of war, and Janus watched them curiously from the relative safety of Kirby and Siris' sled; the one with the weapons. He was sitting on the back of it.

The children were split in teams, though they all looked like dirty rags to Janus and he couldn't make out how they knew who was on who else's side. One group stuck to the trees, pouncing on any poor child stupid enough to come within striking range, dragging him off. The victim would emerge a few moments later, reeling and stumbling, covered in snow and usually without his boots. The other group stuck to the adults, throwing random children into the vicinity of the trees and waiting for the first group to jump out and snag the poor little bait child, whereupon fierce combat would ensue, the purpose of which was apparently to steal all the shoes from the opposing team. Janus found it very amusing to watch, and became so absorbed that when the sled hit a bump he forgot to hold on and was thrown face-first into the snow. He lay still for a moment, having had the wind knocked out of him and was squirming to get up when a boot planted itself firmly on the small of his back, pressing down hard, crushing him into the snow. Just when he thought it was going to break him in half, the weight lifted.

"Oh?" A coarse mocking voice sounded from somewhere above him but Janus was too busy trying to breathe properly to respond. "I seem to have stepped upon some thing in the road." Rough hands grabbed him by the shoulders and effortlessly hauled him out of the snow.

Janus found himself staring into the narrowed eyes of an Earthbound boy about his own age and height. His eyes were the blue shade of stagnant mineral water found pooled in caves. Hair the color of rusted steel was matted up on his head. There was a jagged pink scar running from the right corner of his mouth to his ear. His tanned features were twisted into a disgusted smirk, and Janus knew that his own probably looked much the same.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Rusted eyebrows arched in mock wonder as the sickly blue eyes traveled up and down, measuring him up. "Could this be...? No, surely not. But...it is. The bastard prince of Zeal, floundering around in the snow like an Earthbound." 

Janus watched in grim satisfaction as his fist connected with the other's face and produced a pleasing crunching sound. The child let go of him, holding his hands over his nose and growling. He spit out the bloody fragment of a tooth.

"No one talks to me like that," Janus hissed through his teeth, breathing heavily. He was not surprised to see that they were surrounded by the other Earthbound children, and that the sleds had passed them by, already unseen far up the trail. The filthy little ragamuffins were shouting encouragement to their friend.

"Get him, Roderrick!"

"Wipe the little shit out in the snow!"

"Kick his ass!"

Janus was livid with rage, and the sight of him made Roderrick hesitate. The young prince knew what was said behind his back, whispered in hushed tones when they thought he wasn't looking. He knew about all the absurd rumors surrounding his premature birth -- the same night his father had been murdered. But no one had ever dared to say it to his face and this dirty pile of rags was going pay for being the first.

Blood was spurting from Roderrick's lip, and he wiped it on his sleeve. "Well," he said quietly. "You're going to regret that-" He never got to finish. Janus threw himself at the other boy, knocking them both to the snow and kicking swiftly where he knew it would hurt, he rolled out of the way to avoid the other's fist. Roderrick doubled over, wheezing. Janus took advantage of this, jumping on the boy from behind to knock him helpless to the snow and wrapping his hands around his throat. Roderrick squirmed wildly until Janus lost his hold and was flipped over onto his back in the snow. The Earthbound was on him suddenly, his face a twisted mask of rage, pale eyes wild and savage. A dagger was in his hands, upraised, ready to plunge into Janus' throat-

There was a hissing-whistle and an arrow shot through the air, so close to Roderrick's face the wind from its passing stirred his bangs. It landed in the snow beside his thigh. His eyes flicked upward instantly. On the side of the road, high in the branches of a dead tree, a small figure sat poised, its bow already fitted with another arrow, aimed at Roderrick. The Earthbound growled low in his throat and quickly stood up. The other children came in close, all staring up at the tree, anger clear in their eyes. Apparently forgotten, Janus got to his feet and brushed the snow from his torn robes.

"She'd do it, too," one child said quietly, glancing at Roderrick. The boy was breathing heavily, almost growling, his eyes narrowed into slits. He raised the dagger and pointed it at Janus. The figure in the tree stiffened, drawing the bowstring back further. Satisfied, Roderrick dropped his arm.

"I know," he growled, his fingers reaching up to trace the wicked scar on his face. He turned to the prince. "You're good," he said, glancing up at the tree through rust colored bangs. His eyes were fierce. "We'll finish this some other time." 

The person in the tree didn't take their aim off him until he and the others had disappeared from view. It was starting to snow. Janus watched as the figure put away its weapon and began the laborious climb down the tree. It looked funny, sliding down on its belly, holding the branch above it until its feet touched the one below. It brought to mind the time Gaspar had taken the class on a walk through Zeal's tiny forests, and they had watched a porcupine climb down a tree in much the same manner. A loud crack brought Janus back to the present. He looked up just in time to see the branch the figure was hanging from snap cleanly in half, dropping the person to the deep snow bank beneath the tree. He clearly heard several expletives before the person managed to struggle to their feet and Janus finally got a good look at him. 

The first thing he noticed was that it was actually a young Earthbound girl. She walked towards him, brushing snow off her ragged clothes and stopped about four feet away, crossing her arms behind her back and glaring suspiciously at him. She was breathing somewhat heavily from the fall. He thought her eyes were dark blue, but it was hard to be sure from that distance. Her cheeks and arms -- the only skin he could see -- were smudged with dirt and scratched from the climb. There were twigs in her shoulder-length black hair. For a moment neither one spoke, and then the moment became two and then the silence was broken only by the screams of the wind. It wasn't awkward, but it wasn't exactly comfortable either.

"...If you waiting for a 'thank you' there isn't going to be one," he snapped just when the Earthbound girl said, pointing east, "The Skyway is over there." They both narrowed their eyes. There was another long silence. Janus thought, eyeing the bow and daggers, that maybe he'd have been better off with Roderrick. It'd seemed a bit safer, or at least familiar. He was forever getting into fights with the other Enlightened children, but none had ever been armed, and none had certainly ever been female. Even if they were just as viscous as the boys, Janus was not about to fight some little girl.

After a few more long moments, they both spoke again at the same time. "I didn't need your help," he said, as she asked "Are you lost?" 

Again, that long silence. And again, after a moment, they tried to talk at once. "You've got twigs in your hair," Janus said, reaching up to his own, and she reached up to touch her mouth saying, "There's blood on your lips." 

"Look, I'm not trying to get back to Zeal," he said quickly, before she could speak with him. It felt just way too weird. "I'm going that way," he pointed, "with Siris and the hunting party."

A delicate eyebrow arched in skepticism, her eyes looking him up and down. She snorted. "Not in that condition. You'd attract every deer on Terra Continent." Her voice was clipped and precise, not like the slow drawl of most other Earthbound. It was more military-like than prissy.

"...Since when are _deer such a bad thing?"_

Both eyebrows went up this time, and she blinked twice. "Don't you know _anything?" When he refused to reply to that, she added, "...The cannibal deer can smell blood from miles away." _

Cannibal _deer? ...Ew. _

"They've probably already caught your scent." She paused, suspicion creeping back into her eyes. "Who are you, anyway? Why are you down here?"

"I'm...Janus, the prince of Zeal. As for why I'm down here..." He shrugged. Somehow, she didn't seem like she'd buy the 'I want to learn about your culture' shit, and he was not about to go into the whole spitball song and dance with a complete stranger -- and an Earthbound one as well. "Long story." He watched for her reaction. She just stared at him for a minute, her eyes dark and unreadable. 

He didn't like that. Most of the Enlightened children were stupidly obvious, and he'd discovered the same of the Earthbound. There was something in her eyes that reminded him faintly of Schala when she was being Princess Ice. And that wasn't the only thing. All Zealians were telepathic, and Janus was no exception, but the Earthbound were obviously not, and he had to keep his mental shields stronger than usual to block out their thoughts. This girl had the same wall. Janus narrowed his violet eyes in a glare. She responded instantly in the same manner.

She was not truly Earthbound, he was certain of that. Neither was she an Enlightened who had snuck down to play in the snow -- he knew what all the Enlightened children looked like, and none had black hair. None could use a bow that well either. 

_'All right, let's cut the shit. There are three cannibal deer in the trees behind you. Coincidentally, we have three options.'_

At least she wasn't denying her abilities. It made finding the truth that much simpler. _'Okay.'_

_'One: I leave you to go back to Uncle Siris, and he gets to give Schala the bloody remains of your boots. Two: we go back to Algetty.' _

He noted the absence of his sister's title, and the lack of respect this strange little Earthbound had for her irritated him. It was one thing to insult him. It was another entirely to insult his sister, and that could not be forgiven. Was this weird girl the only Earthbound so forward and lacking in proper respect for Zealian royalty? It would have to be looked in to. Schala didn't protect herself as well as she should have; she was too trusting of people, too naïve and Janus was not about to let a bunch of filthy Earthbound take advantage of his sister's innocence. That voice had unsettled him and then here was some creepy Earthbound child speaking telepathically. He was certain someone was plotting something sinister. Schala must be protected at all costs. Even if that cost was befriending this smelly little ragamuffin.

_'...And mystery option number three...?'_ Janus queried when she didn't go on. Her eyes narrowed even further, and he thought he saw the corners of her mouth twitch in what was almost a smile. The snow was falling faster now, whirling in little spirals as the wind teased it.

_'You decide not to trust me, so I kick your ass and drag your unconscious body back to the village.'_

"I'll go willingly," Janus said, executing a formal bow. "I make it a point not to fight with girls."

"Smart of you," she replied shortly, walking to where her arrow was still buried in the snow. Plucking it free, the girl scuffed a smooth place in the snow with her boot and bent over it. Using the arrow's tip she etched a squiggly line, with what looked like three webbed chicken feet coming out of it at random places. Beside that, she drew a box with one jagged edge then stuck the arrow point-first into the snow beside her doodles. She straightened and stared at him expectantly. It was a sort of test, he knew. Janus leaned over the drawings, eyes narrowed.

"A crown," he said, pointing to the box, and looking to her for confirmation. She nodded. Her eyes were indeed blue he noted offhand, turning back to the drawings. Squiggly chicken feet somehow did not seem the right answer for the other doodle. Squiggly line: a string? No, strings had no feet. He leaned over further. Were those petals of some sort? No..._leaves_. Janus straightened triumphantly, looking in her eyes.

"It's a vine," he proclaimed happily. The girl almost smiled for a moment, but quickly quashed it, and glared again.

"Ivy," she said simply, turning to walk down the road. Almost immediately, there were snuffling noises in the trees behind him. He hurried after her, and she spared him a measuring glance. "It's...my name."

"Pleased to meet you," Janus said automatically in his prince voice, looking worriedly over his shoulder. For once, it was almost true.

___________________________


	4. Casus Belli

**Thicker Than Blood  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Casus Belli**  


  
___________________________  


  
  
"Here they talked of revolution; here it was they lit the flame.  
Here they sang about tomorrow, and tomorrow never came."  
- Les Misérables, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables  


  
___________________________  
  
  
Timeless  
  
There was one last hope, one slight chance for the balance to be righted, though it was dangerous, and if they failed the consequences would be catastrophic. Two very different forces on two very different worlds would make an attempt at the impossible.  
  
_I don't understand..._  
  
Neither did they.  
  
___________________________  
  
  
16,000 BC  
  
In the times before Zeal Kingdom floated on the clouds like a lily on the water, in the times before Terra Continent was a waste of snow, before there were Earthbound and Enlightened, the people lived in tribes and hunted for their food and housed themselves in tents made of animal skins and made war with intelligent lizard-like creatures known as Reptites. On the day the leader of the humans met with the leader of the Reptites in the final, deciding battle a red star fell to the ground on the Reptites' fortress, destroying all those inside. And then things began to change. A cold wind swept through the jungles, killing the hot-blooded creatures and plants that lived there. The animals mutated, becoming strange and savage. The people began to change as well, gaining intelligence and magic. It began to snow, and then it never stopped. The people took to the caves. It was a great time for them. The land was changing, but they were changing as well and reveled in the power it brought them.  
  
Three tribes emerged from the chaos. The strongest had magic, and used it for everything; hunting, building their homes, defending their people from the beasts that now roamed the snow wastes. Their power was incredible and unrivaled.  
  
The other tribe had no magic, and grew stronger in a different manner. They were wise in the ways of the beasts, and nothing that they hunted ever escaped them. They knew the forests, the trees, the land, and lived in peaceful existence with the magic-users.   
  
There was one other tribe, but they were very few in number, and dying out fast. They were the Seers, the Shamans from the days of old when the land was hot and her people simple. The red star that had changed the others had changed them as well. They no longer used bones and blood and fire to see the future. They dreamed it in the night, and the strongest among them saw visions even when awake. They, too, lived peacefully with the others. But the peace was not to last.   
  
The oldest of the prophets had a dream, and in this dream he saw not only the future of the tribes, but the future of the planet itself. He saw a great demon, living in the earth's center and feeding on the strength of its peoples. He saw his tribe die out, and he saw the others become Enlightened and Earthbound. He saw the bloody war to oppress the Earthbound when the Enlightened rose their kingdom above the clouds, sealing away the sun. He saw the magic-users search for more and more power, discovering the demon in the earth and worshiping it as a god. And he saw this kingdom fall to ashes when the demon rose from the ocean to rain fire upon the land.  
  
He was the Elder, and the strongest of his people, but the others also had the Seers' blood, and they caught some of his great vision. And while her mind was trapped in this web of chaos, a woman gave birth to a boy that was the son of a magic-user. This vision was what the child was born to, and it set fire to his blood, and being both prophet and magic-user he saw even more than the Elder, though he could not speak and had no way to tell them.   
  
The prophets hurried to tell their fellow tribes of this vision, and were shocked when they were laughed at, and ignored.   
  
"A demon rose out of the sea, and fire fell from heaven? You have been using the Dreamstone too long," Basilias, the leader of the magic-users sniggered at them. The chief of the hunters, Radicans, could not stop his bellowing laughter long enough to add anything.   
  
The prophets, whose own numbers dwindled to the point of extinction, were forced to stay with the others, despite the scornful way they were now being treated. They were not strong enough to live on their own; they could not hunt, nor defend themselves if attacked by the beasts. But a plan was formed, when the boy who had been born to the Vision grew up and the Elder realized who he was.  
  
"We have been given a chance to change the dark future shown to us," he rasped. The seven prophets and the child, all that were left, sat gathered around their fire in their cave. Without any magic-users the air was cold and they wrapped themselves in furs, hunching as close to the shallow flames as they dared. Beside the Elder, the boy whose name was Acies sat, eyes the color of fresh snow staring blankly into the fire. "Acies is going to live with them; the magic-users. We all know of his power in their arts. It is what the dreams say to do. He will become one of them, and train his children in our ways, and they will train theirs until this demon comes to the surface. And then, when our blood is weak in his veins and the magic-users blood is strong, our descendant will kill the demon."  
  
"But Elder," spoke the only woman, Mona. "You are speaking of a time that is thousands of years from this day. How can we know Acies' descendants will do this thing?" There were murmurs of agreement from around the fire.  
  
The Elder opened his mouth to reply, and coughed long and hard, until he could scarcely breathe. Beside him, Acies touched his arm and then the Elder gradually stilled. "It has been seen," he whispered when he could. "I have seen it. You are right, Mona, to be worried; there are shadows near the end, but our chances are good." He sat back to regain his breath and let the others consider his proposal.  
  
"What else could we do? All our power is in visions."  
  
"We can see, and act now to change that."  
  
"This is the path we should take. I am sure of it."  
  
"My visions have said the same. We must do what we can to change the future, even if we are alone in our wish to do so."  
  
"So we agree with the Elder?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
The Elder nodded when their voices subsided. He'd known it would end this way. It was silent in the cave for a moment, apart from the screaming wind and crackling fire. Acies was staring into the flames, unaware of the eyes of the others on him. He shuddered suddenly, closing his eyes and drawing his blanket tighter around his body.   
  
"What do you see, boy?" The Elder's voice was quiet. The others leaned forward expectantly.  
  
"Darkness," Acies whispered, opening his white eyes and staring into the future. "I see darkness."  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  
7,000 AD  
  
"Mother is dying."   
  
At the sound of the familiar cold, flat voice, Laven took his hands away from the controls of the machine in front of him and turned around. His sister stood in the doorway, orange eyes downcast. She seemed more depressed than usual. Her fingers twisted a strand of her thick, blue hair around; a gesture of insecurity she carried from childhood. She wore a white tank top and loose black pants. He almost snapped at her for wearing human clothing instead of the usual battle armor, but caught himself in time. She didn't look well; her pale blue skin was paler than usual.  
  
"Veil. You knew that."  
  
"Yes. But I hadn't expected her to become so weak, Laven. She can scarcely control her hive." She gave a bitter laugh and came to sit in the chair beside his. "Though controlling them is hardly necessary. They really do love her."  
  
"Of course they do. She is the Mother."  
  
His sister sighed, the human gesture coming natural to her for all the time she spent with them. It was vaguely disturbing, that she was around them so much she was beginning to pick up their habits. All her free time now went to observing them. It was becoming an obsession. "I don't suppose you would understand, brother," she said coolly. After staring at him for a moment, she added, "They are regaining their memories."  
  
Laven didn't know what to say to that. He didn't care about his Mother's hive; it was female's business. He'd tried it once, keeping a hive of humans, but found no pleasure in it. Their constantly chattering minds were annoying, and suppressing them into thoughtless drones wasted effort. He didn't understand what females saw in them.   
  
"Have you fixed the sensors yet?" Veil extended a hand and the controls reached out to meet her. Her fingers flitted expertly over the keys and the holographic displays opened up in midair before her.  
  
"Yes," Laven said. "I was waiting for you."  
  
Veil sighed again, the gesture annoying Laven. She pushed the controls away and beckoned to another set, waiting patiently for them to cross the room to her. Her fingers settled over the keys, and after a moment the displays in front of her were replaced with different ones. They showed a grid filled with dots, and a blinking white line wandered randomly through them. It was the ships' starmap. Veil reached up and touched a section on the edge and the map scrolled down obediently. This new screen was also filled with dots, though there was no white line. His sister leaned back in her chair and sat still, vivid orange eyes staring vacantly at him.  
  
"Sixty planets in this area that qualify," she said coldly. "Twelve significant times to search through." She paused. "Sensors show no indication of any Lav-"  
  
Laven allowed his temper to surface and slammed himself back in his chair. "Damn that Lavos! We've looked through over half the 'system without any sign of him at all. _Damn _him." He slammed his body in the chair again, growling loudly.   
  
"I'm sorry," Veil said quietly, still watching him.   
  
"It isn't your fault," he growled at her, glaring hotly at the map. "I knew he couldn't be trusted. I just didn't think he'd flat out steal them. Didn't think he'd be so _stupid_."  
  
Veil said nothing, staring at her brother and blinking -- another of her human's habits. Whatever her brother said, she knew that it was, in fact, her fault that Lavos had stolen their only chance for survival. Laven was just trying to be nice when he said otherwise. They both knew that.  
  
"All those damned years," he snarled, "we worked our asses off and he just waltzes up here and steals them, just like that." He snapped his fingers, and Veil suppressed a smile.  
  
_Who is imitating humans now, brother_?  
  
"How much you want to bet he doesn't even know what he stole? That he took them just to piss us off." It was a rhetorical question. He didn't wait for an answer. "Damned bastard."  
  
Veil waited patiently for his temper to cool. It was the same every time they entered a new galaxy. He would rant and rave for a while, she would pretend to listen, and then they would get to work.   
  
It was tedious work. Methodically checking each and every planet in each and every year it existed, searching vainly for some sign Lavos had been there. The computer could not be programmed to do the task automatically, and the work was dull enough to almost put one to sleep. After a while, Laven's temper had risen again and he went off in search of some willing slave woman in either her or their Mother's hive. Veil worked alone for a while, then also grew tired and stood up, stretching. She padded silently to the window, leaning against it, flattening her palm to its cool surface and staring through her reflection at the planet currently under observation.   
  
_I'll find you_, Veil promised fervently. _You're the only hope for this universe, do you know that_? _And if Lavos thinks he can get away with this, well, we'll kick his ass together -- you, Laven and I. Brother or no brother, Lavos went too far when he took you from me, and it's about time someone told him that._  
  
A loud beeping shook Veil from her thoughts. She turned around. Laven was reclining in his chair, shirtless and still breathing a little hard. Her brother was grinning. He looked rather pleased with himself. One glance at the holographic display in front of him told her why. On it were two words.  
  
_Subject Found_.  
  
___________________________  
  



	5. Bloodreaver Alpha

**Thicker Than Blood****  
  
****Chapter 5  
  
Bloodreaver Alpha**

  
___________________________  
  


"You saw that I was a kid and you underestimated me."  
- Chang Wufei, Gundam Wing

___________________________  
  
  
Timeless  
  
In times of desperation, humans have a tendency to do very stupid things.  
  
_I've noticed._  
  
They panic when they become afraid.   
  
_Not all of them._  
  
No, not all, but enough that smart ones are obsolete. When faced with fear, humans make very foolish mistakes. They become so scared that even if the solution is in their hands, they cannot see it.   
  
_It is hardly their fault. They are weak; they have much to fear. It is easy for ones such as you and I to condone their fear, but we are not mortal. We are not forced to contend the same troubles as they, so of course they seem weak to us._  
  
Oh no. That is not what I meant at all. You think I am judging them? You think they are weak? Then it is you who are foolish.   
  
_...Excuse me?_  
  
Can you not see it? They are the strongest beings in existence.  
  
___________________________  
  
  
12,003 BC  
  
"We're lost."  
  
"We are not."  
  
"Are too."  
  
"Are not."  
  
"Are too."  
  
"Are not."  
  
"Are too."  
  
"Did I ask for your opinion? Do you know where we are? Have you spent you entire life in these forests? No, I think not. Be quiet and keep walking."  
  
Janus knew exactly where they were, and it was not on the way to Algetty. They were walking along parallel to the Earthbound village, skirting a forest of dead trees. They were actually closer to a Skyway.   
  
"Algetty is that way," he informed her, pointing.   
  
"I _know_. We're just two little kids, not a hunting party of warriors, and I'm trying to avoid deer territory. Unless you think you can take on a whole herd, Your Highness."  
  
Janus growled, stumbling along in the snow behind Ivy. They had been trudging for a good while and his muscles were incredibly sore. The cold air burned his throat when he inhaled, and Janus held his hand over his nose. The cloth of his sleeve was warmed by his breath, as was the frigid air passing through it, and it even helped his fingers regain some feeling. After a moment, he held up his other hand.  
  
The forest was ominously still. In the tops of the trees, the wind was wandering aimlessly, stirring about the branches, knocking snow to the ground in great plops. The sky was dark, a vast and boundless void of blackness. Falling snowflakes looked for a moment like stars against it, then the wind swirled them into a formless mush. Glancing at the trees, Janus was uneasy despite himself. The dark spaces between the trunks were unnerving. Fierce red eyes glowered at him from the corner of his vision, winking out whenever he tried to get a proper look at them. A branch cracked, loud as a thunderbolt, and he started, bumping into the girl. It jarred the quiver of arrows, twisting the snap and dumping the bolts out on the snow.   
  
He dropped to his knees in the snow and started gathering up the arrows. After a moment of silence spent glaring at him, she joined him.  
  
"Two things make a sound like that," she said after a while. She didn't look up at him. "Snow weighs on a branch until it snaps, or the sap in the trees gets frozen. It expands, and the bark explodes." She stuffed the arrows recklessly into the quiver.  
  
"Oh." He held out his half of the arrows, but snatched his hand away when she reached for them. Ivy looked up, blue eyes impassive. Janus gifted her with his best fake-smile before letting her have the arrows. He strengthened his resolve. Schala needed him to find out what was going on down here and no bitchy little girl was going to get in the way. Ivy retied the broken strap and they both stood up.  
  
A fierce blast of wind rocked the trees, bending the weaker ones, sending branches crashing to the ground. It stirred the snow into a cloud and for a moment it was all Janus could see. The howling wind ceased abruptly and the snow it had swirled fell just as suddenly. He looked at Ivy. There was snow all over her ragged clothes and stuck in her dark hair, and her eyes were wild with fear.  
  
"Something's wrong," Ivy said, her voice small and quivering. She turned around, catching hold of his arm, clinging to him desperately. He was too baffled to fight her off. She pressed against his back, clutching his robes to prevent him from dislodging her, keeping him between her and -- he saw it. All the breath in his body rushed out, replaced instantly with a cold terror.  
  
It was standing in a fringe of trees, breathing deeply, staring around. It hadn't seen them yet.  
  
It did not look like a deer. It looked like a demon. The creature was at least four times the size of any normal deer, cannibal or no. Its shaggy fur was mud-brown, hanging down to its knees, and almost obscuring its glowing orange eyes. A crown of antlers so thick they looked like small trees twisted over its head. Bloodstained fangs jutted at odd angles from under its lips. Dark ruby-colored liquid soaked the hair around its jaws and throat, dripping from its mouth to fall hissing into the snow. Clouds of steam billowed from its nostrils every time it exhaled. Its body was massive. Huge muscles bulged from beneath the thick coat.   
_  
'What the hell?!'_  
  
_'Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods. No, please, no no no no.' _She was hysterical, trembling and even crying. Her arms were so tightly wrapped around him he had trouble breathing.  
  
_'What is it? Girl -- Ivy -- answer me!' _  
  
_'Bloodreaver Alpha. He's a demon from __Mount__Woe__. Oh gods, this wasn't supposed to happen, he wasn't supposed to be here, they said nothing about him being here!'_   
  
The creature took a slow step forward, cloven hooves sinking deep into the snow. Thickly corded muscles rippled under its skin visibly when it moved. It took another step, and stopped. It spread its massive forelegs apart for balance, raising its muzzle and sniffing the air. Its head turned in their direction and those glowing eyes narrowed. A low grunt rumbled from its throat.  
  
_'Its coming this way!' _Janus pushed back, trying to get Ivy to let him go so he could run. It was worse than a nightmare, worse than the voices and the black wind. This monster was real. Fear made his hands shake, and his heart pound in his chest.  
_  
'No no no no no...'  
  
'Get a hold of yourself! What in hell are we supposed to do?!'  
  
'I don't know! Gods, we're going to die, he's going to kill us, we-'_  
  
A chilling bellow rolled from the deer's throat, loud and echoing like thunder. It was floundering through the deep snow near the trees, getting closer and closer to the hard-packed road. The glowing orange eyes were wide as was its bloody mouth. Janus noticed in horrified fascination that its tongue was a deep dark blue.  
  
Janus finally pried Ivy's arms off him. He snatched her hand before she could grab him again and pulled her in a dead run towards the trees. Maybe if they could climb high enough it would go away or her arrows would be of some use. _'Shut up and run!'_  
  
"Its no use, he's too fast." She sounded just as terrified as he felt and her hand shook in his grasp. Her eyes were pleading. "I don't want to die."  
  
"Then run," Janus said through clenched teeth. The fingers of her other hand were clawing at his wrist, trying to get him to let her go. He tightened his grip grimly. Ivy had their only weapons and he didn't know how to use them. Otherwise he would have been glad to let her go to be a distraction to the deer so he would have a better chance of escaping.  
  
There was another earsplitting bellow from behind them, sounding at the same moment Janus and Ivy hit the deep snow at the edges of the trees. Janus sunk in to his knees, and was horrified to find that running through knee-deep snow was like running through knee-deep water; you were actually wading and barely moving at all. He cursed silently, fervently hoping their short head start would keep them alive long enough to reach the trees.   
  
Ivy's hand stiffened in his suddenly and she screamed, jerking away from him. Janus whirled around. The monster was only a few feet behind them. Its eyes were glowing madly, its breath coming in heaving droughts that sent clouds of steam billowing outward. It was only then, at such close distance, that Janus noticed the festering maggot-riddled wound along its belly.  
  
Ivy was beside him, fumbling with the daggers at her waist. She couldn't' wrench her gaze away from its eyes. Her hand hit the hilt of one dagger and she jerked it free. The sharp movement dislodged the quiver from her shoulder; its hastily fastened snap broke again and the arrows tumbled out onto the snow. The creature -- _what had she called it...?_ _Bloodreaver _-- bellowed again on sight of the weapon. It hit the deep snow and paused, hesitant to enter where it wouldn't be able to move as fast as its prey.  
  
Ivy's dagger caught it directly in the center of one furious glowing eye, drawing a roar of pain and fury so loud Janus felt the snow shake around his legs. Hot ruby-colored liquid gushed from the wound and Bloodreaver shook its head violently to try and dislodge the weapon.   
  
_'What the hell are you waiting for? Run, damn you!'_ Her frantic voice broke into his mind.  
  
_'But-'_  
  
"Just _go_, it isn't you he wants!"  
  
Bloodreaver lunged forward suddenly, sending up a spray of pink blood-flecked snow. Ivy turned and ran, slipping through the space between two trees mere seconds before Bloodreaver slammed into them behind her. For moment it just stood there, silent but for the heaving of its breath and then Janus realized it was stuck; its shoulders were too massive to push through, its crown of antlers too wide to pull back. It grunted furiously, throwing its heavy body from side to side, trying to free its head.  
  
If Janus was going to do something, he knew this would be his only chance. The trees were actually beginning to uproot under Bloodreaver's violent thrashing. But what could he do? He had no weapons, no magic, nothing. Janus took a step backwards, looking frantically around for something, anything -- _the arrows. _He dropped to his knees, quickly gathering as many of the scattered bolts as he could. Maybe at such close range they could wound Bloodreaver enough to slow him down -- if they couldn't outright kill him. _Hurry, hurry, hurry,_ he chanted silently as he ran toward Ivy, who was lying in the snow, where she'd tripped and fell after squeezing through the trees.   
  
"Here, hurry, before he-"  
  
"Too late," she whispered.  
  
There was a thunderous cracking sound and Janus whirled around, dropping the arrows. Bloodreaver was floundering on his side in the snow, but suddenly the predatory deer wasn't the most important threat. One of the trees it'd been wedged between had been pulled up by the roots and was falling. Janus could only stare at it, transfixed. It swayed for a moment, its branches caught in the branches of other trees, and then the branches were snapping and falling around him and the tree was falling too, faster and faster -- something slammed into him from the side, knocking him out of the way and on his face in the snow.  
  
Janus quickly scrambled to his feet and whirled around. Ivy was pinned beneath the tree, one of the thicker branches pressed over her waist.   
  
And then he felt the hot, steamy breath on his neck and suddenly the tree wasn't so important anymore. He turned around slowly. Yes, there it was, the living nightmare right in his face, scarcely a foot away. Dear gods, the rotting smell of flesh and the stench of fresh blood was enough to kill a man on its own. Janus took faltering steps backward until his back was pressed against the branch Ivy was under. Bloodreaver paused a moment -- _please, gods, oh please please please, no no no_ -- and then, decisively, took its own steps forward until its blood drenched hairy muzzle was almost pressed against Janus' chest.  
  
Bloodreaver Alpha took three deep breaths, and Janus robes lifted off his body when it inhaled. The dagger had fallen out of its surreal ghostly eye and blood was streaming freely down its cheek to melt a pool in the snow. Then the Bloodreaver took a deep breath, opened its mouth and roared its raw bestial fury so loud Janus felt his body vibrate and his eardrums pop. He squeezed his eyes shut. Hot flecks of blood and saliva splattered on his face and he tried not to breathe. The noise gradually fell in pitch and then stilled. Janus' eyes flew open as it rolled its lips back off its fangs -- oh gods no -- and lowered its head.  
  
"No," Janus whispered, closing his eyes again. "No, go away, leave me alone..." He waited for the feel of those bloody fangs sinking into his flesh, ripping and tearing until he was dead and his blood spilled out over the white snow...  The teeth never came. He opened his eyes.  
  
Bloodreaver was staring at him, its one remaining eye glowing fiercely. It had closed its mouth and retreated a step.  
  
_What the hell_...? "Leave," Janus hissed through his teeth. "Go away and leave me alone."  
  
It swung its head back towards him and roared again, even louder than before.  
  
"_Go away!_" Janus shouted back. His eyes closed again. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. "Go away and leave us alone!"  
  
It left. Slowly, after glaring at him for what felt like eternity, it turned and walked quietly into the trees.   
  
Janus stood very still staring at the place it vanished for a long time after it was gone. Ivy managed to dig herself free of the branch, pushing the snow away until she could wiggle out.   
  
"He left. You...you told him to go and...he actually left." Her face swirled in his vision, her voice sounding as if she were speaking to him from underwater. "...Are you okay?"   
  
Janus took the only course of action left available to him. He fainted.  
  
___________________________


	6. Demons of Zeal

**Thicker Than Blood  
  
Chapter 6  
  
Demons of Zeal**  


  
___________________________  
  
  


"Every man is plagued by his own demons; I just happen to be yours."   
- Daniel Yetman  


  
___________________________  
  
  
Timeless  
  
Most of the destruction in this universe is caused by humans. The killing? Humans. The war, the violence, the bloodshed? Humans. How ironic that they turn out to be our only hope for survival. These creatures that seem to thrive on pain and chaos are the one light left in a universe that has only known, for so long, utter darkness.  
  
_But...what do they have to do with our star?_  
  
Everything, love. Absolutely everything.  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
12,003 BC  
  
The sun was dying, no longer a bright source of light but a faint red glow, a fading ember, elongating wild shadows. An oppressively hot wind blew over the grass, bending the stalks into a pale shimmering sea. Zeal Palace towered over the land; throwing its cold shadow out so far it reached the edge of the continent and dripped sharply over the edge. Clouds whose bellies were bathed pale pink from the sun hung low in the sky above the kingdom.  
  
Janus found himself standing alone amidst all this, in the long dry grass beside the Skyway on the main continent. He couldn't remember anything after the demon Bloodreaver and had no idea how he'd gotten from fainting in the cool snow to standing on the outer edge of Zeal. The air smelled of dust and dirt, and a few gritty particles that may have been sand blew into his face.  
  
Janus stood still for a while, watching the kingdom. The wind ruffled his hair and he restlessly pushed it behind his ears. The absolute silence grated on his nerves. No bugs buzzed from under the grass, no birds sang out from the trees, no Enlightened children laughed and played along the side of the lake. With a feeling of unease growing in his stomach, the young prince slowly started for the palace.   
  
He found the first of them lying face down in the dirt on the road outside Kajar. At first Janus didn't know what it was because the body was completely covered in black flies, and the fading light made it increasingly hard to see. But when he got closer most of the flies were scared off and he could make out the decaying body of an Enlightened woman under the rest of the crawling mass. Her eyes were white and strangely bloated. He leaned in for a closer look and her eyes erupted suddenly into thousands of wriggling squirming maggots. Janus stumbled back in horror, almost falling over a rock.   
  
For the longest time he could only stare in mute terror, breathing hard through his mouth because the smell of rotting flesh was wafting from the corpse in waves. He noticed now the oozing puddles of puss and blood soaking the dirt around the body. The buzzing black flies were covering that too.  
  
A single thought sifted through the horror in his mind, and he stood still for one brief moment, not even breathing with the weight of the fear that had seized him, before setting off in a dead run to the series of caves set up to teleport people to Zeal Palace. Please, he thought as he dashed up the marble steps, pushing through the heavy doors. Not Schala. Please. He cursed the fact that he had to take the long way instead of teleporting himself directly to her room.   
  
More bodies were scattered around the palace, some slumped over tables, but most face-down on the floor. There were no black flies, but it was very hot and the stench was so strong it was nearly visible. It hit Janus like a wall and he stumbled back a few paces before covering his nose with the collar of his robes and running on grimly, determinedly ignoring the corpses he had to step over. His heart was racing faster than his feet in desperate fear.   
  
In his haste to reach his sister, Janus did not notice the round purple shape of a one-eyed Nu standing in the shadow beneath a stairway, watching the young prince's progress through the death filled palace. Its single narrowed eye was the only part of it that moved as it followed Janus until the prince was out of sight. The Nu nodded once, and disappeared.  
  
"Schala?!" Janus called frantically when he reached the hall their bedrooms were on. His voice cracked. He waited for a response only to be rewarded with his own echo. "Schala! Where are you?!" He burst through the door to her room -- and froze, the cold beginning in his heart and traveling from there throughout his entire body.  
  
Schala lay on her side, one arm outstretched over her on the cold marble floor, quite definitely dead. Her skin was chalk white and her lips were blue. Zeal -- Janus had never thought of the cruel woman as Mother -- stood a few feet away at a table, flipping idly through piles of paper on its surface. She looked up at him, and her eyes went from his desperate expression to her daughter's corpse on the polished floor. A wry smile twisted one corner of her mouth.   
  
"Well," she said in a deep scratchy voice that was not her own, "don't look so upset about it, kid. She wasn't anyone special." Zeal looked up at him and frowned angrily, like someone staring at a pile of dog mess in the middle of their fancy plush carpet. She raised her arm and a cloud of shadow blasted from her open palm, engulfing him in total darkness. The cloud expanded, taking up the whole room, and Janus had no time at all to be furious and vengeful before he found himself standing in what seemed to be a vast, boundless darkness. Way above him white objects that may have been stars glittered but gave no light. He made no effort to fight the tears streaming down his cheeks.  
  
**'I hope that someday you can forgive me for this.' **The presence descended around him, warm and polite like a living blanket. Then it gathered, invisible, a little ways in front of him. Its voice was deep but pleasant; not the one that had been using Zeal, though it was the same that had spoken to him in Algetty and lurked in his nightmares.  
  
_'You again. Why do you keep bothering me? Are you the one responsible for Schala's death?!'_  
  
**'Mmm. I might just tell you that if you answer something for me first.' **It paused. **'If you had the...choice...to save the world, or the one you love, which would it be?'**  
  
The question was so absurd Janus didn't even understand it at first. _'If I had the_ what?'  
  
**'...You are not taking this seriously. This is not a trivial matter, Janus. I am not joking.'**  
  
_'If I could save... Well, who is the one I love, Schala...? I'd save her, no question. What has the world ever done for me anyway?' _He couldn't keep the bitterness out of his tone. Janus sensed that it was grinning, and then the presence rapidly began to fade, as if a hole had opened in the air behind it and was sucking it in.  
  
_'Wait! You said you'd answer me if I told you so answer, damn you!'_  
  
**'I lied.'**  
  
The darkness fled instantly and Janus opened his eyes to find himself in his own room in his own bed at the palace. His heart nearly stopped when he saw Schala sitting on the edge of his bed, leaning over some papers in her lap and looking wonderfully alive. He threw himself on her, startling her so that the papers were jolted to the when he wrapped his arms around her neck and trying to speak through his sobs.  
  
"Schala! Schala, I dreamed you'd _died _and everyone had _died _and they were all covered in flies but you were lying all blue and cold on the floor and -- and Mother'd _killed _you Schala, she had! She looked at me and her eyes were all dead looking and then she started laughing, only it wasn't her voice it was some _monster _and -- she'd _killed _you Schala, she had, you were _dead!_" Janus broke down in tears, pressing his face against her shoulder. Her arms came up around his back instinctively. She was used to his nightmares.   
  
"It was only a dream," she murmured soothingly. "I'm right here, it's okay." She stroked his soft blue hair until he quieted and pulled away, sniffing and wiping his face on his sleeve until his pale skin was red and blotchy and his tears were dry. Schala cleared her throat.  
  
"Do you remember what happened? You were attacked in the forest?" He nodded slowly. "They...the Earthbound said..." She stopped and took a deep breath. "Something about you wandering off on your own, and getting attacked by a monster from Mount Woe. When they realized you were lost, they sent someone back to follow your tracks, and he found you out cold in the snow. One of them got in contact with Melchior and he came down to get you, that was four days ago, I-" She stopped. Her hands, clenched together in her lap, were trembling very slightly. She looked up at him and there was a strange mixture of fear and fury in her ice colored eyes. "Running off was a very stupid thing, though I suppose you had your own reasons for it and it seemed justified at the time. I can't really yell at you -- sending you down there probably wasn't very smart either, but -- you were such a little brat, and I was busy, I didn't think-" She took a deep trembling breath. "I'm sorry, I'm not really together right now. I've been very worried about you, Janus."  
  
"I'm sorry," he said automatically, trying to ease her fears. He felt guilty about making her afraid, but even more so for keeping things from her. He hadn't even known he was going to lie to her until that moment -- he'd never done it before and it made him feel sick -- but he knew that if he told her about his suspicions toward the Earthbound she'd shrug him off and not do anything to prevent whatever plot they had.   
  
Janus dismissed the telepathic girl as some kind of genetic throwback -- such things did happen occasionally, of which he himself was misreable proof. If the Prince of Zeal could be born without magic, was it really so impossible that an Earthbound child would be born with telepathy? Probably some kind of mutation from all the inbreeding. Anyway she was only a child, no one special, and certainly not a threat. That Siris man was the one who worried him, especially considering how the black wind had gone all crazy on him. Not that the Enlightened wouldn't be able to take care of themselves if need arose, but it was Schala he was worried about. Earthbound were stupid but certainly not so stupid as to try and fight the Enlightened head-on; an assassination attempt was obvious.  
  
"Janus?" Schala's gentle voice broke into his thoughts. Janus looked up. A young servant woman fluttered nervously in the doorway. "I have to go now, okay?" His sister was standing up, leaning over to kiss his forehead and peering worriedly at his face. "Mother...needs me for...something, it may be a while before I can get back-"  
  
"It's okay, Schala. I'm eight, I think I can handle being alone in my own room for a few hours."  
  
She ruffled his hair. "Nice to know you're feeling better," she said dryly, following the servant through the door.  
  
Zeal depended way too much on Schala, in Janus' opinion. Zeal's new project had everyone going around the clock, but Schala was the focal point and everything Zeal was doing hinged on her. It was wearing Schala out, and Janus only resented Zeal all the more for the way she was pushing her daughter. He remembered the dream and shuddered.   
  
Whatever they were doing, Janus knew it was dangerous. Schala wouldn't breathe one word to him about it, even if he asked her straight out, and there were times when she'd look so burned out and...old. Sometimes when he went to her in the dead of night after a bad dream she'd be sitting up at her desk with her quill pen, bent over some papers and looking haggard and weary in the flickering candlelight.   
  
One more reason for him to fix the Earthbound problem on his own.   
  
Well, it would have to wait, he was thirsty. And anyway, there wasn't much he could do about the Earthbound from Zeal. Find out who was helping them, get evidence. There was an Enlightened helping them, he was sure of it. They were too stupid and transparent to be working on their own. Janus wormed his way to the side of his enormous bed and swung his legs over the side, then stopped.  
  
The papers Schala had been looking at when he'd awoken were still on his floor.   
  
Janus dropped down and bent over to pick them up, shuffling a little dance because the marble floor was painfully cold on the bare skin of his feet, which had blisters gathered from the treck with Ivy, no doubt. His feet were sensitive from years of silk-lined boots on turf no rougher than grass. He hopped back up onto his bed, letting his legs hang over the edge as he spread the papers out on the soft blanket.  
  
Most of them were junk -- mathematical equations, a whole bunch on phases of the moon, oceans tides, things like that -- but one caught his eye, hidden as it was in some mess about Nus.   
  
It was a sketch, crudely drawn onto yellow flaking parchment. A huge creature that had to be cousin to some sort of freak giant insect graced the fading surface. Things that were somewhere between spikes and blades made from gray bone thrust elegantly from its squat larva-like body. It had a three-pronged eyepod that was closed in the picture, and small appendages that may have been legs -- though the scrawny things would never have been capable of shifting _this _creature's impressive bulk -- ran along its body from its eyepod to stop not even midway to its end. The word 'Lavos,' which he assumed was its name, had been faintly stenciled in at the bottom margin.   
  
Looking at it made him feel sick.  
  
Janus quickly buried the picture beneath the sheets of carefully worked out equations and began pouring through the rest of the documents with new fever -- many of which, he now noted, were written in the casual, yet barely readable, script his sister used when writing something not intended for anyone else to read.  
  
__________________________  
  
  
Rast: Okay, I've got some crappy news. My school blocked Fanfiction.Net under the pretense of 'too much violence,' whatever the hell _that _is supposed to mean, so from now on I'll only be able to update Friday or Saturday, which is if/when I can ever get to the public library. Yeah, I have a computer at home but it's really old and basically is a piece of festering crap that doesn't really get along with Fanfiction.Net at all, refuses log in, and also for some obscure reason shows up all the text at FF.Net as underlined. Whatever.   
  
Also, a special note of thanks to Bloodreaver Alpha for letting me use his name, and for the idea about Flea. Yeah, I probably should have posted this in chapter five but... I dunno, whatever. Hmmm, something else...   
  
Oh yeah, thanks to all my reviewers for the great reviews and encouragement and please review more! I'll still write this story through to the end if all I have are the eight reviews I've got now, but it's really nice to know that people are actually reading this, so...yeah, whatever.   
  
I'm doing the best I know how to do, and if anyone out there has ideas, criticism, comments, please let me know. Review, email, IM, whatever is easiest for you. Stuff you like, stuff you don't like, stuff that confused you -- tell me so I can do it better in the future. I'm new at this, I don't know much about anything, which includes pleasing the readers. To me, I think I have problems with characterization and dialogue, but what do you think? You're the one that matters, reader person, so let me know please! I've got the whole plot planned out and I know that it's gonna be a killer when I'm done, if I can get better at the actual story part.   



	7. Sticks and Stones

**Thicker Than Blood  
  
Chapter 7  
  
Sticks and Stones**  


  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  


"Who will save the war child baby?   
Who controls the key?   
The web we weave is thick and sordid,   
Fine by me."   
- The Cranberries, War Child  


  
  
___________________________  
  
  
Timeless  
  
Over the ages, countless millions of beings have used countless millions of ways to communicate with the dead. Of course, all of these ways are more dangerous than mortals can imagine, but the one with the most potential for utter disaster was -- _is _-- crossing over into the realm of the dead; physically, mentally, spiritually, in any form. Aside from the obvious dangers -- getting stuck there, dying there, -- one must always be cautious of bringing something dead with them back into life. As I'm sure _you _know.  
  
_Humph. As I seem to recall, it was in fact not me, but _you_, my love, who left the Door open and let that creature slip through to-_  
  
To save your life, I believe. If you hadn't foolish enough to go there in the first place _without _my guidance, _without _any knowledge about the realm of the dead, _without _any way of protecting yourself from the creatures there... Well, we wouldn't be here, would we? You would have become one of them, and then killed me when I came to rescue you.  
  
_Touché._  
  
Yes, well, I suppose it is all irrelevant now anyway. As I was saying, the dangers involved in any sort of dealings with the dead almost outweigh the benefits. One never knows quite what to expect over there, and the unknown has always been mankind's greatest fear... As well as the reason behind most of the disasters they have caused. All too often, men stir up things beyond their imagining just because they didn't _know_.  
  
___________________________  
  
  
12,003 BC  
  
Nothing was going right, and it was all Melchior's fault. He couldn't have messed things up more if he'd done it on purpose.  
  
Schala stood over the twisted fragments of what had once been a large chunk of refined Dreamstone piping, but was now scattered all over the room in pieces too small for even magic to repair. Larger portions were embedded in the domed marble ceiling, though they were scorched beyond recognition. Schala knelt down and picked up one of the smaller pieces, turning it over in her fingers as she stared at the big melted hunk in the center of the room -- all that remained of two year's grueling work and a good deal of the kingdom's precious Dreamstone.  
  
She sighed heavily and stood to her feet. Enlightened were scattered around the room, salvaging what they could and tying to look busy to avoid notice of Queen Zeal, who looked to be both furious and on the edge of tears. A few of the braver Enlightened tried to coax their queen away from the Mammon Machine's remains, which were still giving off random bursts of sparks.  
  
"Schala," Zeal murmured, allowing her people to bring her to her daughter. "How long...before you can heal this..." She spoke through tears and teeth clenched in anger.  
  
"At least a year, Mother," Schala admitted, sighing again. They had been so close to having it finished -- a month more, maybe less, and now it would have to be begun again from scratch. They had all the equations still, thank the gods, but Dreamstone took a formidable amount of time to absorb the quantity of energy needed. The Enlightened tried to explain this to their devastated queen, leading her away.  
  
"Melchior!" Schala called, spotting her friend lurking in a corner. He winced, but shambled over, wringing his hands. A small Nu trailed vaguely after him.  
  
"Schala, I'm so sorry, I know how hard you've worked on this -- I've done it too -- I just never thought, I mean I -- Oh hell, I'm sorry."  
  
"It's all right Melchior," she said in an attempt to soothe the old Guru. "I just need you to tell me what happened."  
  
Melchior drew himself up, throwing a glare at the sleepy Nu behind him. "My team was finishing the piping systems, connecting them to the main body. Obviously, Dreamstone is much too heavy for us to lift so we were using a combination of magic and Nus -- really remarkable creatures, you know, someone should do a study -- and this little monster fell asleep helping me lift a section of pipe, dropped on me and well... I...it was an accident, you see, I lost control of my magic and well..." Melchior grimaced, gesturing at the ruined Dreamstone skeleton of the Mammon Machine.  
  
Schala could not suppress another weary sigh. All those sleepless nights, all that time wasted on _this. _Such a stupid accident. No wonder Zeal was so upset. She'd probably order half the Nus in the kingdom banished to Algetty. "It's not your fault Melchior. Though I must say, that must have been one powerful spell to deal this much damage."  
  
"Yes, and I've been thinking about that. My guess is that the Dreamstone was so saturated with power that my blast overloaded it. We've known it was sensitive, now we know how much."  
  
Schala nodded absently. An overload, that made sense. She half-smiled. There was no way bumbling old Melchior could have exerted that much power on his own. "All right. Though I do expect you to look into a fall-safe to prevent this kind of thing in the future," she said, then added thoughtfully, "I suppose it's just as well it happened now rather than later when it will have all that energy coursing through it." She dismissed him with an impatient wave and stepped up to listen to the report from a group of technicians.  
  
Melchior tried not to hurry away -- too conspicuous -- but the moment no one was looking he quickly fled, the Nu waddling on his heels.  
  
  
_____________________________________  
  
  
  
"Siris, it has got to stop."  
  
Siris sighed, turning from a group of his warriors to look behind him. He thought for a moment some kids had played a trick on him, but then someone kicked his shin and he looked sheepishly down and saw Ivy. A thin trickle of blood dripped from her temple and her left cheek was swollen with the birth of a bruise. Battle fury was still burning in her eyes, making her breathe deeply, and her dagger was clenched tightly in her hand. Siris scanned the dimly lit tunnel behind her -- three boys, one of whom was Roderrick, lurked rather obviously at its end. These three, he knew from long experience, were part of a much larger group that included all the children in Algetty, and quite a few adults. Siris turned back to his friends.  
  
"If you will excuse me for a moment, I have to go get bitched at." They laughed, as they were supposed to. Everyone knew who wore the sword in Siris' family, and whatever Siris chose to think it was not him.  
  
"Hey Ivy," one of the said, "can Siris come out and play later?" He shuffled his feet, clasping his hands behind his back and making his voice sound childish. "We really want him to go hunting with us, but we'll understand if you think it's past his bedtime." Siris forced himself to smile when the others burst into laughter.  
  
"Well, of course he can go hunting with you, Kerrigor," Ivy spoke up with false sweetness as she narrowed blue eyes at her uncle. "Just as soon as he learns not to bite the hand that changes the diaper."  
  
The men roared with laughter again. Siris closed his eyes, counted to ten, and managed not to explode on his seven-year-old niece. Poison Ivy, the other Earthbound called her behind her back. Well, there were times when he certainly agreed with that. Like now. Siris put his hand on her shoulder, trying not to grip it too hard as he steered her forcefully down the tunnel towards their private rooms.   
  
"All right," he snapped, shoving her around to one side of the table and sitting himself on the other. "What happened this time?"  
  
Ivy settled herself on the wooden bench, gingerly lifting the fabric of her shirt away from her shoulder and peering closely at the dirty skin beneath. She wouldn't have cared that he'd grabbed her so hard -- hells, she deserved it -- but he'd latched on to a cut from the encounter with Bloodreaver Alpha that hadn't fully healed yet, and the wound had reopened. In truth, she was stalling for time. Ivy had not meant to charge up to him in front of his friends like that -- she was conspicuous enough without stunts like that -- but Roderrick had ambushed her again, and this time his older sister had been helping and she'd also had a dagger. Fighting children her own size was one thing, but it was quite another to face them as well as someone three times her height.  
  
"You told me to let you know when things got too dangerous," Ivy said quietly, trying not to further enrage her uncle's temper. She heard him sigh, and the bench creaked as he lifted himself up and crossed around to her side of the table.  
  
"Show me," he said quietly, but she quickly shook her head. There was a pause, then "That bad?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
He sighed.  
  
"I didn't start it this time."  
  
He sighed again.  
  
"Look, I'm sorry about your friends, okay? I was still mad from the fight or I'd have known better."  
  
"Ivy-"  
  
"You just said to let you know, so, well, I'm letting you know." Ivy forced herself to look up at him. "It isn't safe." His eyes narrowed, furrowing his brow.  
  
"Don't play that innocent child act with me, Ivy, I've known you too long to fall for it." Siris frowned, noticing the dagger in her hand, and tried to snatch it away but she was too fast and he had to wrench it from her grasp. "I told you not to use these damn things." He slipped it into his belt. Ivy worried him. Not just because she used daggers against children but because she knew how to use them almost better than he could, and no one had taught her.  
  
"Siris!" Ivy surged to her feet, breathing through her teeth. "You don't know what its like! Hells, I'm just a seven year old girl, most of them are twice my size! I... I..."   
  
Siris whirled around, recognizing the breathy dreamlike tone of voice. Ivy swayed on her feet, blue eyes unfocused and cloudy, trembling hands clutching the edge of the table for support. "S-Siris-" He ran around the table and caught his niece when she collapsed, cradling her limp body in his arms. Her breath came in soft, rhythmic gasps, shudders racking her body.  
  
"I thought you said that damned Dream-rock shit Melchior gave you was supposed to _help!_" He tried, and failed, to keep the panic out of his voice.  
  
"It...does," she breathed, blue eyes already very far away. "The dreams, not the visions." Ivy paused, her head falling against his chest. _'Uncle Siris...' _Her voice in his mind was even weaker than her spoken one_. '...We have to kill him.'_  
  
_'Who?!' _He already knew the answer, but he was desperate to keep her with him, even for just a few more seconds. These damned 'visions' of hers scared the hell out of him. They were a very frightening reminder that no matter how tough she acted, she was really just a child, something he tended to forget. There was so little he could do to protect her from something happening in her own mind.  
  
_'...Lavos...'_  
  
It was the only thing Melchior didn't -- couldn't -- know about Siris' precious little girl. She was old enough now that no question about her illustrious father's abilities being passed down would plague her, and Siris was not going to give the Guru of Life yet another reason to need to take Ivy away.  
  
"Siris?"  
  
Someone tugged at his sleeve and he looked up to find Kirby's innocently worried face staring at the unconscious burden in his arms.  
  
"Is she okay? Is it another vision? I'll hold her, Melchior's here and he wants to talk to you."  
  
"Speak of the devil," Siris couldn't help murmuring, tenderly transferring Ivy to Kirby's arms.  
  
He found the old Guru alone in the great hall, sipping a mug of steaming tea and staring wistfully at the snowflakes drifting down in lazy spirals from the hole in the roof. The strange shape of a Nu hunched beside him, snoring gently.  
  
"Melchior," Siris said quickly before the old man could begin whatever long-winded tale had brought him there. "Is...is there any...potion, or stone that...can prevent visions?" Whatever Melchior guessed from this odd request he gave no sign, save arching two gray bushy eyebrows. No matter what suspicions the Guru had as to Ivy, the important thing was keeping the little girl safe. And her visions were anything but safe.  
  
"_Preventing _visions? Hmmm, you don't usually see that. More often one is trying to attain them. I suppose there is a way to ward them off, I'll have to look it up." The old man paused, then heaved a long heavy sigh, lifting tired eye to meet Siris'. "I have given you at least a year before Schala will be able to repair the Mammon Machine. Use it wisely, because I doubt I'll be capable of such a feat again." Melchior paused again, looking suddenly very old and weary.   
  
"Melchior," Siris said suddenly as something occurred to him. "How were you, with what old weak-ass magic you have, able to screw Zeal's Machine so much it's gonna take a year to fix?"  
  
Melchior dismissed him with a wave. "It was nothing. We've known forever that Dreamstone is very sensitive, and can only hold so much power before-" The Guru of Life stopped abruptly, and began to grin. "Yes, yes, you're right, that might work. If I could condense it somehow, with the right refinery techniques, we might could..." He trailed off and chuckled grimly.   
  
His next words, spoken with such quit urgency, surprised Siris and made him wonder just how much Ivy really knew and wasn't telling him.  
  
"We have to kill Lavos, Siris. We _have _to. And if the Kingdom of Zeal falls because of that...so be it."  
  
___________________________  
  
  
Rast: To the reviewer known as **turtlerad17** -- you didn't leave an email, so the answers to your questions are: exactly the plot until after the events of the game, he will be Magus eventually, yes, and thank you for reviewing!  
  
And to Rachel -- nana nana boo boo, stick your head in doo doo! Whatever you're about to guess about the Timeless people, save your breath 'cause it's gonna be wrong! 


	8. Humpty Dumpty

**Thicker Than Blood  
  
Chapter 8  
  
Humpty Dumpty**  


  
  
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One of the problems of taking things apart and seeing how they work -   
supposing you're trying to find out how a cat works - you take that cat   
apart to see how it works, what you've got in your hands is a   
non-working cat. The cat wasn't a sort of clunky mechanism that was   
susceptible to our available tools of analysis.   
- Douglas Adams  


  
___________________________  
  
  
Timeless  
  
_I still don't understand how the destruction of our star caused all of this mess. It hardly seems possible that such chaos would result from something so simple and natural as a supernova. And in a 'system with no other life that would be affected, aside from you and I, and assuming we could be defined as 'life.'_  
  
It's called cause and effect, love. Surely you have seen enough of the universe to understand that now. This damnable balance the higher-ups support; light and darkness, life and death, good and evil, piss and puke. Bullshitters trying to make sense of something not meant to be sensible. Midge flies contemplating the nature of the universe.  
  
_You're getting off the subject._  
  
Deal with it. I'm always off the subject. Haven't you noticed by now? It makes me sick, the way they are always trying to define what was created to be indefinable. A balance, yes that makes sense. The universe neatly tucked away on some comprehensible little scale, only right, only sane if all the parts are equal. As if anything is ever equal. Have you heard their theory on it?  
  
_...If I say yes will you answer my question?_  
  
Dear, I am answering your question. Raw power is neither 'good' nor 'evil', it merely is. When this 'balance' is right, the universe remains neutral, each side evenly set against the other. When something happens to upset the balance -- such as our star exploding -- the power shifts, the balance shifts, and depending on the direction of the shift we in the mortal realm experience good or bad effects.   
  
_What a load of cock. _  
  
Well, you asked.   
  
_What's your theory?_  
  
My theory? Love, when you've been alive half as long as I have you will know there is no theory. The universe cannot be summed up in a bunch of mathematical equations, cannot be understood by any creature that obeys its laws. It simply_ is_.  
  
_...I was just asking about our star..._  
  
And I was just answering.   
  
___________________________  
  
  
12,002 BC  
  
Janus was not having a good day. Someone'd had the bright idea to hold a celebration for the recent completion of the Mammon Machine -- probably his mother -- and Schala had not let herself be deterred from dragging him along, insisting he socialize with others. So that's why he was sitting at the children's table in the banquet hall, throwing grapes at the adults nearest him at the end of the big people table.  
  
A lot had happened in the year since he'd been sent to Algetty, but most of it was numbingly boring. He'd been doing his level best to find out more about that Lavos thing, and had even copied down all Schala's notes from that one day, but that was all he had. He'd read nearly every book in all the libraries in Zeal, with absolutely no reward. He was beginning to give up. **  
**  
A badly aimed grape sailed over its intended victim and landed with a plunk in the bowl of wine. Schala looked up from her conversation at the head of the table, on Zeal's right, and shot him a warning glare. Janus shrugged, smiled with what he hoped was innocence, and started flinging grapes at his own table instead. These fancy dinner things were always so pointlessly boring. Nothing to do but throw food at people when they weren't looking. A piece of roasted chicken found its way into the hair of the girl across from him. Ice from the bowl of chilled fish into the robes of the child on his left. The fish's eyes into the wine cup of the chicken girl's neighbor. It was too bad Schala had pulled him away at the last minute or he would have had time to plan something good, like that stunt with Dalton and Zeal's bedsheets.  
  
The children nearest him began to show signs of retaliation, so Janus started aiming the grapes at those farther down the table. It occurred to him suddenly that if he did something inexcusably horrible -- say, setting the tablecloth on fire -- Schala would have no choice but to let him go.   
  
So, naturally, he set the tablecloth on fire.  
  
  
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Ivy's problem was speed. She simply wasn't fast enough, and there was no way to really fix that. He was a giant demonic deer, she a child, and the disadvantages imposed upon her because of that were insurmountable. Snowshoes could only do so much, and despite keeping her above the snow they were very awkward, and she'd need all the maneuverability she could get. The logical solution to the problem was to fight him somewhere that speed wouldn't matter, but the only such place was from the branches of a tree, and if it came to that he would simply walk away.   
  
So, in the end, she had decided on a trap to hobble him before the fight. Ivy was not worried that he would refuse to be led into it -- she could not step foot near the forest without him hunting her, and only in Algetty would he not follow -- but that Bloodreaver would be too strong to be held by anything she could make. A net? Ropes between trees? The only thing Ivy could think of that would detain him long enough for her to break one of his legs or something was a pit -- but how in hells was she, a little girl, going to dig a pit through the permafrost large enough to hold the Bloodreaver? Would a pit even hold him?   
  
The solution came from a most unexpected source.  
  
It had been over a year since Ivy had rescued Janus from him, but Roderrick still had not forgiven her. He was attacking her more and more often -- more in this last year than in all the years since her mother had been killed combined. There wasn't much Siris could do about it either -- not as if she really needed him to -- so she'd taken to retreating to either her room and her books or the forest, though Bloodreaver Alpha would not leave her in peace out there.  
  
Most of what Ivy knew came from the books Melchior smuggled down -- she wasn't supposed to know they were from Melchior, but then she wasn't supposed to know a lot of what she did. Siris seemed to sense this much, at least, and never made refused her requests, mostly because the advanced herblore she'd learned from the books had saved his life on more than one occasion. But there was a big difference from reading about the symptoms of magic first appearing in a child and actually experiencing it. The books told her that magic first surfaced in a child around the age of three, and consisted of wild power flarings manifested in temper tantrums, setting fire to things, illusions, ect.   
  
It had taken a long while for Melchior to bring this book, and she was eight when she first read it. That had certainly thrown off her plans. Ivy had been very disappointed. One more reason for her to hate the man that had gotten her mother pregnant. The least he could've done was passed down his magic. That had been when she'd decided to finally slay Bloodreaver Alpha. She'd only been putting it off in hopes of the magic -- how else was an eight year old girl supposed to fight a demon?   
  
And he had to die. There was no question about it. He'd slaughtered her mother and _eaten_ her while two-year-old Ivy watched from her Uncle Siris' arms in horror and he was going to die for it. And if Bloodreaver killed her instead, what of it? The Earthbound were already working on her other plan, to kill Lavos, and she'd given everything she could to helping them. There was nothing else important she needed to do with her life. Sure, the Enlightened would need to rebuild their civilization after Lavos' destruction, need to find another power source, but for that there were people like Schala. They wouldn't need her. And besides, who took advice from an eight-year-old? No one who belonged in a place of authority.  
  
Ivy had been out gathering herbs to strengthen her supply before the encounter with Bloodreaver, and they attacked her when she returned. That much she had expected. What she had not expected was the trap, mostly because her thoughts were on the cannibal deer.  
  
It was in the dimly lit tunnel that connected the entrance to the interior of Algetty, and it was complicated enough to tell her that the adults had helped, though they were no where to be seen. A rope was snapped up suddenly from either sides of the tunnel, catching her at her ankles. She fell flat on her face, arms over her head, and felt another rope beneath her wrists. Two seconds later, the ropes had become nooses and she was hanging from the tunnel's roof by her ankles and wrists, staring down at the triumphant albeit dirty faces of Roderrick and about a dozen other children.  
  
Ivy was furious. More at herself for walking into something so obvious than at them for catching her off guard. "Roderrick, let me down or I swear I'm going to kill you." No one there doubted the sincerity of her words, but Roderrick merely smiled, pulling a dagger from somewhere in his tattered clothes.   
  
Something snapped inside Ivy. Maybe it was because of his smirk, maybe it was because she was tired of being abused, maybe it was just the feeling of helplessness and injustice. This cold, controlled anger didn't do her much good at first. She could only glare at him, and breathe deeply through her clenched teeth as she tried to ignore the taunts from the others while they worked to cut her down. They couldn't very well kill her there, hanging in the hallway for everyone to see. Siris would get them for that. So they cut the ropes holding her up but not the ones holding her defenseless. The ropes were all severed at once and she dropped forcefully to the ground.  
  
That was the first mistake.  
  
For all of ten seconds the ropes were the only things holding her, and it took only a fraction of that time to free herself. In a single fluid movement, Ivy jerked her knees against her chest between her arms, pulled her dagger free from her boot and sliced the ropes over her ankles then flipped the blade around in her grip to severe the ropes on her wrists and was standing with a dagger in each hand and her back to the wall before some of them even pulled their knives away from the ropes that had held her up. Roderrick was staring at her in mixed horror and awe -- good, he knew what he was up against -- but all of them were momentarily stunned -- the keeper's fear of the tiger when it is suddenly loosed in their midst.  
  
That was the second mistake.  
  
Killing was not a problem for Ivy, but the repercussions for slaying the Earthbounds' children would have been too great so she knocked as many of them into unconsciousness as she could. There were only about twelve, the fight didn't last too long. Most ran away. They were used to facing her in larger groups, and they were only c_hildren,_ after all.   
  
She was gathering up the bundles of herbs that had fallen from her pack in the beginning when she realized they had given her the perfect solution to her Bloodreaver problem. Of course, she would have to make a few adjustments -- ropes for his neck and antlers as well as his legs -- and work out some problems -- how was she supposed to draw the ropes tight on her own? -- but that was all trivial stuff that could easily be remedied with a few trees in the right places. Ivy began to smile.   
  
She was going to need a _lot_ of rope.  
  
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Rast: Once again, **turtlerad17** - no, he doesn't go with Lucca. I don't really have any problems with that pairing, and Lucca's a great character, but them together would totally screw my plot. Thank you for reviewing again!  
  
A note about time - BC goes backward, sort of. Like right now in real life it's 2003 AD and because its AD it goes 2003, 2004, 2005, ect. But if it were BC, it'd be 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, and that would be forward. 12,002 is a year _after _12,003. Got that? I just remembered most people don't know that. If it still confuses you, just remember 12,003 is three years _before_ the events in the game, which hits Zeal in 12,000. 


	9. Fortune's Fools

**Thicker Than Blood  
  
Chapter 9  
  
Fortune's Fools  
**  


  
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Tend to the wolf within your fences. The pack ranging outside may not exist.  
- Children of Dune, Frank Herbert  


  
  
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Timeless  
  
Looking back on the disaster, you have to ask yourself if they didn't see it coming. Of course we have the advantage of hindsight, but they must have had some clue, some idea of what was to come. Enough people certainly knew about it, but these were, unfortunately, the ones only interested in self-preservation.   
  
_Even if they had known, could they have stopped it? _  
  
No. They had, to quote one of the survivors, grown too dependent on a dangerous force. But certainly more would have lived through it. This later catastrophe may have been prevented altogether.   
  
_Wistful thinking_,_ love. Even I know that what happened on Elosia was inevitable. It had been building up over the millennia. Something had to give somewhere.  
  
_Yes, you're right, but I can't help but wish it had given somewhere else. Your experiment was there, as well as the Laviods'. Surely you wish the same.  
  
_Of course I do, however useless it is. If wishes were fishes we'd live in the sea. But I have thought about this over the years, and I don't think I'd change anything that happened. They wouldn't have been able to do what they did if life had been easier on them. _  
  
  
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12,002 BC  
  
Janus sat still through the other children's screams, didn't move when the fire spread to the ornate wall hangings, even sat through it when this woman's hair caught fire. But when he saw the look on Zeal's face he bolted out of his chair and fled the dining hall as fast as he could. Schala glared fiercely at him when he ran past her, but was too busy putting out the flames to stop him, and even she knew Zeal would not be forgiving to anyone who interrupted anything about the Mammon Machine, even if it were her own son.  
  
Janus was not the only one who had suspicions about Zeal now. The queen was becoming stranger by the day, but Schala and most of the kingdom still refused to see it. Or -- and Janus refused to entertain this chilling possibility -- they were under Zeal's power and just as awed by this mysterious Lavos thing as she was. The only ones who seemed openly suspicious were the Gurus, but they were completely loyal to their queen, and too old and stupid to be of any help.  
  
Janus still had the nightmares about finding Schala dead, killed by the Zeal with the deep voice. The monster's voice. He watched them together, whenever he had the chance, but Zeal was motherly and seemed at times to be in awe of her daughter. Janus watched everyone actually, or at least everyone important. He hadn't forgotten his trip to Terra Continent, and the signs of rebellion he'd detected from Siris. He still had dreams about the black wind drowning the man in its fury. Someone was helping the Earthbound. But who would want to challenge the Kingdom of Zeal? It ate at him, knowing there was a possible threat to Schala but not being able to do anything to protect her.  
  
Janus had ruled out the Gurus, for the obvious reasons. He'd shadowed them to be sure, following them for weeks at a time, but none ever did anything but Guru stuff, and anyway, what did any of them have to gain from siding with the Earthbound in a rebellion?   
  
Janus was passing by the Royal Guard's quarters when a voice broke into his troubled thoughts. It was Dalton, captain of the guard. He stood alone in a room, sweating and glaring at his reflection in a mirror. Sweat soaked his velvet uniform, and his brown shoulder-length hair was disheveled. Janus stood to the side of the door, watching with purple eyes narrowed in suspicion. Dalton was one of the few still open to question. He was too hard to track -- Zeal was dependent on him as she was Schala, and he had shifts in the middle of the night spent guarding the palace.   
  
"I have done what you asked of me," he snarled at his reflection. "When will you keep your promise and--" Dalton broke off, flinching and jerking his head to the side. He was silent for a while, then he whirled back to the mirror, dark blue eyes wide. "No, you can't! You wouldn't! You promised me Schala! How would--" He broke off again, as if listening to someone, and after a while lowered his head in defeat. "Yes, I understand. It will be done as you say." There was another long pause and then Dalton sagged, all the tension leaving his body. He stood there, leaning heavily on the desk and looking at himself in the mirror with a strange mix of disgust and resolution, then he took the cork out of a large glass bottle and drained most of it in one swallow, then moved slowly toward the door. Janus was already gone when he got there and closed it.  
  
The young prince found himself a niche between a marble pillar and some heavy blue velvet curtains hanging from the roof. It stood in front of one of the large, perpetually open windows in the palace, looking out over the expanse of Zeal's kingdom._ Dalton_, Janus thought with disgust. He should have known. Though the man's motive wasn't clear, the fact that he was dealing with the Earthbound was. He had the perfect opportunity and concealment -- his midnight shifts. And the talking to himself out loud part was probably his half on a conversation with an Earthbound -- that telepathic little girl, Ivy. Janus had to keep his sister safe. But would she believe him if he told her?  
  
_You promised me Schala!_  
  
Not if Janus had anything to do with it.  
  
  
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Ivy shoved the last bundle of ropes under her bed, and let the ragged vine blanket fall to cover it. She was tempted to give her daggers one last going over, but it was nervous habit of hers and she didn't like giving in to nervous habits, so instead she pulled a book down from the sturdy wooden shelf that took up one of her walls. Ivy settled herself in her bed, tucked her stuffed bird toy Thrustavies in beside her, inspected the candle on her bedside table for signs of failing and leaving her in the dark, then began to read. The book was an old one, and mostly nonsense fairy stories, but it served her purpose and distracted her mind.   
  
Everything that could be ready was, and she had only to wait for the next hunt to put her plan in motion. She knew exactly the trees that would serve in her trap and exactly the way to do the ropes so she could be in position to pull them tight and wound him at once. Bloodreaver wouldn't let her alone long enough to set the trap in advance, so the hunt would have to distract him long enough for her to get ready. And if not, she had a reliable back-up plan -- climb up a tree and call Siris.   
  
She'd written a note to them if she died instead of Bloodreaver, outlining a back-up plan for Lavos in case the one she'd already given them failed, but she was pretty confident she'd kill the Bloodreaver. Her visions had not informed her otherwise, and she did not have the queasy feeling in her stomach that meant something bad was going to happen. If they were to succeed against Lavos she had no idea. For that far in the future, the visions showed only darkness.   
  
  
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Zeal was royally pissed, but Schala managed to calm her burning fury to a mere simmer -- and keep Prince Janus' name away from being the fire's cause, saying a candle must have accidentally been knocked over. _Bullshit_, Dalton thought, and kept a wary eye on Janus, who stuck to Schala like glue. Being tied between two trees naked but for Queen Zeal's bedsheets holding him there was not something a man soon forgot.   
  
"Dalton!" Zeal's imperious voice rang out clearly in the fire damaged hall they were working to repair. He turned obediently, saluted. "See that this is finished today. I have more important things to do." The captain of the Royal Guard saluted again like the good little dog he was.  
  
Zeal was a bitch. There was just no other way to put it. She didn't deserve most of the things some people said behind her back -- she hadn't always been a bitch, and few remembered her before the death of her second husband. Even fewer knew the truth behind the cause of his death, but Dalton did. His visions had told him to go get her, and he and the Gurus had found her that night in the snow on the summit of Mt. Woe, sobbing her heart out and clutching the bloodied Dreamstone dagger that'd belonged to her first and much beloved husband. The Gurus had rushed to be sure of her health -- she'd been seven months pregnant with Janus. Dalton had taken one calculating look at the signs of battle, then walked to the edge of the cliff. Tieron's body, hundreds of feet below, lay crumpled and broken on the rocks. A few of the mystic gargoyles that lived on the mountain were quietly, unobtrusively, eating him.  
  
One of many unwanted pieces of knowledge Dalton possessed.  
  
His soldiers cracked a few jokes at the expense of he and Zeal when she left. He tolerated it for a moment then ordered them to work.  
  
Dalton knew of the rumors about he and his queen, though they weren't true, and he did nothing to quash them. Let the people have their gossip, it was nothing to him. When Zeal, after the birth of her son, had first been possessed by Lavos Dalton's visions had forced him into supporting her decisions. And his visions never took 'no' for an answer. Much like his queen. The Gurus had fussed and fumed over the order to shut up the Sun Stone and elemental weapons, but Zeal quickly suckered them into cooperation with her dream of Lavos. She did not trust them as she did he and Schala, because they still remained openly skeptical. She had no idea that they were the only ones loyal to her. Dalton had his own plans.  
  
A gentle, soft voice intruded upon his thoughts. "Dalton?"   
  
He jumped a mile.  
  
"S-Schala?" With a supreme amount of will, he forced himself to scowl at her. She smiled despite this. Prince Janus' glaring purple eyes proved a good distraction from her.  
  
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Mother's holding a meeting later, after dinner, in the Mammon's hall. She wants you there, okay?" Dalton swallowed, forced himself to nod, and they walked away, Janus sticking out his tongue and flicking him off as they vanished through the doorway.  
  
He _hated _it when people walked up on him when he was thinking traitorous things. Especially _her._ It made him feel even more guilty for what he had to do.  
  
Dalton had sold his soul to a devil, and the devil was hungry for more.  
  
___________________________  



	10. Plans for the Ocean Palace

**T****hicker Than Blood**  
  
**Chapter 10  
  
Plans for the Ocean Palace**

  
  
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"Progress is risk.   
You can't steal second base with one foot on first."  
- Unknown

  
  
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Timeless  
  
Humans are the only beings that worry about fate -- about having their entire lives already planned out. Or, they worry about destiny. Having some task they must perform before they die, but the getting there is up to them.  
  
_Humans worry about lots of silly things. It's in their nature -- it's part of what makes them _human... _Which do you believe in? Fate or destiny?  
  
_Both, love. It is a little bit of both.  
  
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12,002 BC  
  
Melchior was the last one to arrive at the meeting in the Mammon's Hall, the little Nu trailing vaguely behind in his shadow. The Mammon Machine itself, though complete, stood in the room's center draped in gray velvet cloth. The unveiling had been set for the banquet, but was now scheduled two days away -- the anniversary of the first king's death. Melchior was still wearing his fire-stained blacksmith's smock when he arrived, having been summoned from his forge. Chairs had been arranged, and he took a seat between Schala and Bethashar. Gaspar was also present, as well as that abominable Dalton. Melchior was excited, but forced himself to seem calm when Zeal shot him a warning glare. Siris had given him an idea a year ago, when Melchior'd blown up the first Mammon Machine so easily with so little energy, and the old Guru had been working since then to make his idea a reality.   
  
Today, he had succeeded.  
  
Dreamstone was valuable for it's ability to store seemingly unlimited amounts of energy. The ancients had first discovered this because when touching the red rock, whatever thoughts one had -- if they were strong enough -- were transferred into the stone. If one kept the stone in close proximity when one was sleeping, the thoughts became dreams. Thus, Dreamstone. Of course, since that primitive day Dreamstone was used for much more than dreams. It stored magic, heat, electricity -- any form of energy at all. Condense the Dreamstone, and you condense the energy inside. It was the principle they had used to refine Dreamstone piping for the Mammon Machine, and now Melchior was using the same techniques to forge a weapon that should, in theory, be capable of destroying Lavos himself.  
  
"Melchior!" Zeal's snap broke him out of his thoughts. "Try paying attention for once, mmm? Good. Now, Dalton, the blueprints?"   
  
The guard captain stepped forward, a long rolled up scroll tucked under his arm. He reached Zeal, turned, raised the scroll above his head and let go of one edge. The blueprint rolled down, stretching to the floor.  
  
"Behold! The Ocean Palace! The key to Lavos, to power, to immortality! My dear Bethashar has pinpointed Lavos' location and we will build the Ocean Palace under the sea as close to him as we can get. It is extensive, I admit. Complex. But I predict that it will be complete in two years."  
  
"Two years?!" Gaspar sputtered, wide eyes stuck on the blueprint. "Working like mad constantly we'd be lucky to finish this in five!"   
  
"Yes," Zeal agreed sadly. "Our numbers are insufficient for completing the project in time. Our numbers. There is, however, a simple solution to this problem. Melchior, haven't you said yourself that the Earthbound grow too numerous?"  
  
He was horrified. "In petitioning you to make them a new cave system, I never-"  
  
"Quite right. Cave system, yes. Well, I suppose we could blast them a new one when the project is finished. As a sort of reward, or something. They shall be given the honor of building the gateway to the future -- I suppose a few caves would be sufficient prize."  
  
"All right," Schala said, standing, her ice colored eyes fixed on the blueprint. "We'll build your Ocean Palace, Mother. But must we begin tonight? I'll take the blueprints and look them over. We'll be ready to begin construction in a few weeks, at most. It will take at least that long to gather supplies."  
  
"Of course. Very good, Schala. I think I will be putting you in charge of this. I know I can trust you not to make any blunders. All right then. You're all dismissed." Zeal signaled for Dalton to carry the blueprints for Schala, and they all left at once.  
  
It was some minutes before the hem of the veil over the Machine began to move. It twitched, then lifted and a stack of papers were pushed through, followed closely by Janus. He'd taken extensive notes of the whole meeting, and sharply regretted not having a sketch of the blueprint. Ah well, there was only so much one could do. Dalton would have to be watched more closely now. If the Earthbound were to build this Ocean Palace thing, it gave him the perfect opportunity at Schala. Janus would have to be near her at all times to ensure her safety. Tucking his Lavos notes into his robes, he hurried after her.  
  
  
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Melchior showed up in the main chamber when they were preparing to leave for the hunt. He dragged Siris off to the side in a dark corner, their expressions intense. After a few moments, they were, as usual, arguing. Ivy was on the other side of the crowded chamber, too far to read their lips. Damn. It was something important, too, from the looks of things. He signaled the rest of the hunting party to move on without him, and Ivy slipped through with them. Whatever it was, they could deal with it on their own. She had some hunting to do.  
  
The others didn't protest when she merged in with them, weaving her way through the crowd. Ivy made it a point to leave with them, though she preferred hunting alone. Less distraction, no one else to look out for. So none of them thought it strange to see her loaded down with gear. Her bow and arrows, a pack stuffed with coils of ropes, snowshoes and, of course, her daggers.   
  
Although visibly armed to the teeth, she was still attacked when most of the hunting party had descended. Roderrick slammed her face-first into the cave's dirt wall, his fingers clenched around her neck. It pissed her off, but she bore it, grinding her teeth. Her arms were pinned between her body and the wall, and he was too close to her back for her to kick him. Well, he was getting smarter at least. Ivy couldn't see behind her, but there were enough shadows on the wall to tell her he'd brought some friends.  
  
"Damn, kick my ass already, get it over with. I'm out numbered, pinned to the wall, and basically helpless -- you won't get it any easier. Hurry up though, would you? I have things to do today."  
  
Ivy heard him growl low in his throat, and his fingers tightened around her neck. "Bitch." Ew. The word came with spit, and some landed on the back of her neck.  
  
"Yes, that does seem to be the popular opinion these days. Look, Roderrick, much as I'd love to get my ass kicked at the moment, I have other, more pressing matters to attend to. So, can we reschedule this for some other time? Day after tomorrow, maybe? Next week? My important business is rather dangerous, so I have to warn you, you may not get the chance to beat me up again."  
  
She was slammed against the wall again, and this time he moved away so she fell to the floor on her back. His muddy boot pressed down on her chest.  
  
"What's that shit supposed to mean?"  
  
"Well, aren't we just a ray of fucking sunshine." Ivy couldn't see his face, he was standing too close to the torch.  
  
The pressure from his shoe increased. "Don't play those games with me, bitch." He made a noise in his throat that Ivy recognized as the prelude to spit. Not very nice of him. Mud she would endure, spit was just gross. Roderrick'd made a mistake in pushing her down -- her hands were free. It was a simple matter, really, to grab his foot and twist until he fell down beside her.   
  
"I'm going to kill the Bloodreaver," Ivy said quickly, without moving, before he could retaliate. The words had the desired effect; the hand of his reaching for a dagger froze. "Don't tell Siris, okay?"  
  
Roderrick didn't move for a long moment, then, "_What_?"  
  
"Well, he killed my mother, remember? I'm going to return the favor."  
  
His face appeared in her field of vision. Somehow in his fall, he'd busted his lip, and blood trickled down his chin. Good. He deserved it. Asshole. "Stupid fuck," he said finally, staring down at her.   
  
"Well, yeah. So? Not like you care."  
  
He continued staring at her, then laughed. The others joined him. "_You _aregoing to take down _Bloodreaver Alpha_? Get real."  
  
Something hit her then, and she said quickly, "Make a bet with you." Roderrick considered this, then lifted his rust-colored eyebrows. "I kill him, you leave me alone forever."  
  
"What do I get if you lose?"  
  
Who was the stupid fuck now? "Well, I'll be dead, so I'd guess you get what you've been trying to get since he ate my mother."  
  
Something strange passed through his sickly blue eyes. He seemed about to say something, then changed his mind and shook his head. "And if you loose but survive?"  
  
"_Hells_, whatever the fuck you want already. Just let me _go_."  
  
"Deal." He watched her a bit longer, then offered his hand to help her up.  
  
"Like _hell,_" she snapped, rolling over and pushing herself to her feet.  
  
Ivy was aware of his eyes on her as she pushed through his friends toward the vine ladder that led to Algetty's exit. Hells. That wasn't gonna be good for _anybody_. Roderrick, getting a crush on her? No damn good at _all_. Life was going to get even more fucked up. Not like it wasn't Hell already, but, well, _damn._ Fighting she could do, fluffy romance shit she could not. Ivy reached the open door, stood still a moment in the cold wind. Uh oh. If she lost but _lived_, he... Well, damn. Hells. Curse words were all that came to mind.   
  
No, she didn't have time for this. Bloodreaver first. Roderrick and his little boy hormones would just have to stand in line.  
  
Ivy took a deep breath, and stepped out into the snow.  
  
___________________________


	11. Suffer the Little Children

**Thicker Than Blood  
  
Chapter 11  
  
Suffer the Little Children**  
  


  
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"Win and Live. Lose and die. Rule of life. No change rule."  
- Ayla, Chrono Trigger  


  
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12,002 BC  
  
Schala, politely but firmly, kicked Janus out of her room before he got a chance to see the blueprints. He didn't mind, really -- it'd been a long shot, in any case, she was always too secretive for her own good. Gaspar and Bethashar were in there as well, so he wasn't particularly worried about leaving her with Dalton when he took his notes and spread himself out at a table near some open windows in the Palace's largest library.  
  
Janus was aware that his fears were excessive, bordering on paranoia but -- well, what else was he supposed to do? Let it be, then find out he'd been right all along? Schala was all he had, he'd never forgive himself if something happened to her. Especially if it turned out to be something he could have prevented. Though if Lavos ended up as the real threat after all, he wasn't sure there was anything he could do. He was just a child, with no magic, nothing that could threaten a creature as big as Lavos.  
  
Something Zeal had said during the meeting was kept bothering him. About Lavos being the key to immortality. It solved the why of her wanting to build the Ocean Palace, but brought up even bigger questions: Why did Zeal want to be immortal? Why were Schala and the others going along with it? Did they really want to live forever? _Why_? Janus was only nine and already getting tired of life. Why would someone want all those problems forever?  
  
The possibilities were not reassuring.  
  
And if Lavos was actually capable of something like making the entire Kingdom of Zeal immortal, what chance did anyone have of defeating him? Because Lavos would, at some point in time, need to be killed. There was no question in Janus' mind about that. Whether the creature was a serious threat to his sister remained to be seen, but it was undoubtedly evil. Just thinking about it, looking at the picture -- even being around the Mammon Machine sickened him to the point of physical nausea.  
  
Because Janus was afraid, for himself and for Schala, and with every passing day the fear only grew.  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  
In all of Ivy's plans, it had never occurred to her that Bloodreaver might not even show up. Either he didn't know she was out there, wasn't interested, or -- most likely -- was merely biding his time until she let her guard down. Only because she suspected this as the real reason did she stay out there -- just to prove she wouldn't let her guard down. What some may have mistaken for patience in her, Ivy knew was simply stubbornness. So the only option was to wait him out. Which wasn't the problem; she had rations in her pack, and no one would come looking for her since she often spent hours alone in the forest. The problem was that she had to be on the ground when he showed up, and if she stayed there too long she risked attracting the other deer.  
  
The trap was set around five trees growing about twenty feet or so away from the main forest. It was deceptively elaborate, though the whole of it was hidden from view least Bloodreaver suspect something. The two thickest of the ropes lay buried in snow between the first two trees, noose-fashion, one for each of his forelegs, both ready to pull in opposite directions. The other ends of these ropes were directly above this, hung from two heavy, entwined branches, and tied together in another noose for his antlers. It was rigged so that with every pull from his legs, the noose would tighten. A crossbow nestled among the smaller branches of a dead thorn bush at the base of one of the trees, aimed at where -- hopefully -- his left foreleg would be, and also set to fire when he stepped into the trap.  
  
For all of this to work, Ivy had to lure him through the first trees -- using, unfortunately, herself as bait -- and get behind a third tree to pull the rope that would trigger everything else.   
  
It was complicated, and she didn't like that because it left too much room for error. But there was no alternative, and she was too impatient to think up one, which probably wouldn't work anyway. Deep inside, she knew it was just nervousness. No. These might be your last moments, Ivy, don't spend them lying to yourself. Truth be told, she was so scared she couldn't breathe right, and her hands wouldn't stop trembling. But there would be time for fear later, when she was home and --  
  
Oh. Damn.  
  
There he was.  
  
Bloodreaver seemed to have not noticed her yet, ambling along the edge of the forest, muzzle raised into the wind. Ivy swallowed hard, then narrowed her eyes. Being afraid was fine. Fear was natural. Showing the fear was the problem, letting it control you, letting others exploit it. Ivy took a deep breath and stood up, brushing snow off her knees.  
  
"All right, you bastard," she said, loud enough that he heard her over the wind. Bloodreaver's head raised again, turned in her direction. The one remaining eye narrowed as he snorted a cloud of steam into the air. Ivy took a step backwards. "Come on, this way... I've got a little surprise for you, demon. Although I don't think you'll enjoy it."   
  
Bloodreaver seemed to draw himself up at this, one cloven hoof poised above the snow. His lips pealed back to reveal saliva coated fangs, the corners of his mouth twisting up in what Ivy could have sworn was a smile. He shook his head at her, pawed the ground, shook his antlers at her. Bloodreaver seemed more amused than angry, and it was his blind anger she was counting on.   
  
"Come on, you bastard! Get your ass over here and fight me!" He could not understand the words but there was no mistaking the challenge. She needed something to piss him off, so she took out one of her daggers, and then a few seconds later it was embedded up to the hilt in the tree beside the Bloodreaver.  
  
It achieved the desired effect, and Bloodreaver roared into the snow, plowing his way towards her at an alarming speed. Ivy turned and ran, through the trees to the back of the third one, pulling the rope tight.   
  
It actually worked.   
  
To avoid slamming into the third tree, Bloodreaver had dug his hooves into the snow, planting them directly in the nooses at the moment she got to the rope. For one fraction of a second, Ivy saw the utter bewilderment on his face at finding himself spread-eagle between two trees, with a rope tangled in his antlers holding his chin up. Then the crossbow fired, at nearly point-blank range, and drove the bolt completely through his left foreleg. Bloodreaver screamed, though it was more from fury than pain. Obviously, the leg was broken, -- thank the gods -- and an unforeseen side effect of this was that Bloodreaver was now stuck, because while he could wrench one leg free, doing so with the other would leave that part of his body with only a shoulder. Though until he figured out to chew through the rope, she was going to use his immobility to her advantage.  
  
Within seconds she had her other crossbow notched and ready, and she stepped from behind the tree. At the sight of her, Bloodreaver Alpha roared even louder, throwing himself left to avoid her arrow, loosing his balance to fall on his side in the snow and in the process breaking the ropes on his right leg and antlers. The arrow found him despite this, burying itself in the thick muscle of his right shoulder. A few seconds of thrashing to get his legs beneath him. One single, fluid motion and Bloodreaver rolled to his feet, snapping the final rope holding his broken leg as he stood. He paused for all of two seconds, though for Ivy it seemed much longer, and exaggeratively slowed down. Narrowing his glowing orange eye then inhaling deeply, Bloodreaver charged her.  
  
For this part of the fight, Ivy was just winging it and hoping that the closely set trees and his wounds would prevent him from outmaneuvering her. Ivy noticed something else to her advantage as she circled swiftly around the tree to avoid his fangs; the snow, while not deep enough to effect her, Bloodreaver with his broken leg and slender hooves was having, well, maybe not considerable difficulty, but he was slow enough that a little of the fear fluttering in her stomach and throat dissolved.   
  
Ivy pulled out another dagger, weaving between the trees fast enough to avoid the limping, enraged cannibal deer on her heels. This wasn't an exercise she would be able to maintain for long she realized because she was already getting tired, feigning left then turning right and around behind the tree, panting to catch her breath. Anticipating her next turn, Bloodreaver cut her off, and she whirled around to run the other way -- and tripped, neatly, over the noose ropes for his legs, and then couldn't get up again because the damn rope had caught and twisted her ankle until she heard bone snap. White-hot pain surged through her body, and for a moment she couldn't even breathe. Bloodreaver hadn't expected such a sudden stop, and with only one whole leg, he came crashing down on top of her, ending up on his knees. Ivy was pinned with a tree at her back, and his antlers held her there as several of the tines were deep in the tree trunk. Without a seconds' hesitation Ivy plunged the blade in that one furious orange eye.   
  
Thick, dark blood gushed from the wound, soaking her arm in the hot liquid. Bloodreaver uttered a scream so loud and shrill Ivy felt her eardrums pop. He began thrashing, violently whipping his head from side to side, to either free himself from the tree or shake the dagger from his eye. Savage fangs gnashed mouthfulls of bloody snow in attempt to get at her, saliva making a foamy pink lather around his lips. Gurgling snarls burst from his throat. Ivy realized that if she didn't move he was going to eat her. She looked around frantically. The tines of his antlers were too closely spaced to allow escape.   
  
Bloodreaver roared again, mouth gaping wide and spraying her with flecks of blood. Ivy felt herself tremble. This was it, he was going to eat her just as he had her mother --  
  
Her mother. This bastard had _eaten _her mother, those fangs had ripped the flesh from her bones, while Ivy _watched_. And she would be damned before she gave up, not here, not now, not this fight. Ivy's blue eyes had narrowed and her breathing came deep and even. A roaring filled her ears, a rushing that was not the sound which erupted from Bloodreaver's gaping maw. It seemed like it came from inside somewhere, and it sounded like the wind. After a moment, she realized it _was _the wind.   
  
It hit them full force from behind, frigid and screaming, and a wall of snow came with it. Ivy was blown over Bloodreaver's muzzle down his back where she tumbled to the cold snow beside his flank, too tired for the moment to move, even though he smelled of evil, and blood, and steel. Then with one smooth tug, Bloodreaver freed his antlers and rocked to his feet, turning on his heels to snap at her -- she had already gone. Bloodreaver completed the turn, fury momentarily lulled by bewilderment.   
  
Getting his eye had been a lucky move, now all she had to do was stay downwind and pick at him with arrows until he wearied enough for her to move in with her dagger to his throat. It was a good plan, it was safe -- and she forgot all about it when he turned to search for her. The sight of that bloodied muzzle brought back vivid memories of seeing his head lowered to nip delicately at her mother's body. The wind slammed into them again, but this time only whipped Ivy's hair and clothes around. Bloodreaver was nearly floored by the blast, bellowing almost piteously.   
  
Something hot and wild and painful rushed searingly through Ivy's body, making her see all black for a fraction of a second. When the world came in to focus again the pulsing heat sill had not left her, and white-hot energy had collected in her hands, making them glow transparent. It had also collected in the blade of her dagger. She had no time to focus on this because the light had enticed the Bloodreaver. The demon took a confident step towards her, ruby liquid streaming from the remains of its eye.  
  
Then she noticed Melchior, leaning on one of the further trees, gasping for breath and staring at her in wide-eyed shock. _What the fuck_...? But then Bloodreaver Alpha charged her and her attention was required elsewhere. The thing obviously could not see, but the damned light was attracting it somehow.  
  
Of course, Ivy knew what the light really was. The thing she'd waited for all her life. But there would be time for that later, when she did not have several hundred pounds of demonic cannibal deer in her face.  
  
Ivy waited until he was close, and dodged left, on his weak side. He'd anticipated this as well, apparently, and savagely swung his antlers sideways at her. Because she had nothing better to do, and because she knew he wouldn't expect it, Ivy grabbed two of the tines -- careful as not to loose the shining dagger in her left hand -- and swung herself up and towards his back so that when he straightened to keep running, the force of it sat her neatly astride his neck. Inching upward carefully, mindful of the dagger and her ankle, Ivy moved until she was perched just behind his ears. Ivy raised her glowing dagger above the thick, flat plane of his skull with two hands and then with all her weight behind it, plunged it in.  
  
Bloodreaver exploded.  
  
She was aware of flying through the air, then falling -- then stopping, just shy of the ground, before some gentle force lowered her to the snow on her feet. Ivy's sight was edged with soft black but Melchior was in the center of the picture and seemed to be trying to talk to her. Ivy could only manage two staggering steps backwards before her broken ankle remembered itself and she fell, unconscious, into snow still soaked with demon's blood.  
  
  
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Rast: Okay, if the format is messed up its 'cause I'm uploading as .txt instead of .html like usual, so things like italics and stuff won't show up. I'll fix it when I get the chance. Also if some of the spelling is bad. Yeah. The computer here has no spellcheck and..ah, hell. Not important. Anyway...  
  
I'm sorry this chapter was mostly Ivy! I put as much Janus in as I could but obviously I had to include the fight with Bloodreaver, and I would have done more Janus, but my computer can only handle documents up to about 20KB or so. Too much and chunks get deleted. Okay, so maybe chapter eight was mostly Ivy too, but I hadn't intended for it to be so it feels different.  
  
I want to thank all of my reviewers for all the lovely reviews. It would be pompous if I said that's the only reason I write, but it sure as hell makes for good motivation. There's just nothing as inspiring as a good review -- or any review, for that matter, even if all it says is 'update.' Thanks people, and keep 'em coming. Also, this next chapter should _hopefully _get out a little sooner, as half of it is already written, but it all depends on if the library computers feel like working or not. And...well, SailorStar gave me kind of an idea. Is there any way I could entice you people into telling me -- well, not which chapter, but which parts you like? So I know which bits are good and which need improvement? Maybe practice _does _make perfect, but if you're doing something wrong, practice gets you screwed.  
  
  
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	12. Enlightened

**T****hicker Than Blood ****  
****  
Chapter 12  
  
Enlightened**

  
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Ayla know about leaving nest! Time pass, grow big, leave nest! Ayla leave nest!   
Dactyl leave nest too. Big change! Leave nest! Have baby! Baby grow big!   
Leave nest too! Sure you ready leave nest? Not too big yet.  
- Ayla, Chrono Trigger

  
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12,002 BC  
  
It was a bit past midnight when Dalton finally left his room. Janus had slept late in the morning to prepare for staying up half the night, but he was still on the verge of dozing off when he finally got his chance to sneak in to Dalton's room. He locked the door behind himself and began searching the room for a candle. He didn't like the way it smelled in there; musty, and old, like it didn't see fresh air often enough. It was just slightly too warm to be comfortable, and just enough to encourage the smell. Janus felt suffocated, and soon after lighting a candle he opened as many of the windows lining the far wall as he could. He leaned out over the sill, taking in deep breaths of cool, clean air before turning back to the room, which already seemed less stuffy with the wind blowing through it.  
  
Janus wasn't exactly sure what he was looking for. Damning evidence that Dalton was planning something, of course, but what was that? Would it even be written down? Dalton was probably smart enough to know someone would find any physical evidence, but it wouldn't hurt to look. The drawers in the desk were all locked. The closet yielded only clothes.   
  
It was beneath the bed where Janus finally found something. A mahogany wooden box, thick with engravings in a language Janus had never seen before, over which was inlaid a silver vine that held the entire box in its grip. It was a simple matter to snap the clasp and lift the heavy lid.  
  
What lay inside was a book, and beside it a feather pen and bottle of ink. The book was old, in maroon leather covering that held what was easily hundreds of pages. Janus opened it to about the middle -- the box was large enough to allow that without his trying to lift the book. Most of the writing was scribble, blotted with ink, but some places were clear enough to read. Skimming over it a bit, Janus realized, uneasily, that the book was Dalton's diary. He let his eyes skip down the page until they caught on something.  
  
_...Getting it a little under control now. I can't make him stop, the bastard, but now that I've found the cause of it, and I've been...talking to him. I don't know what he wants, I don't know, I can't see, the waves, this damned black wind -- _Dalton's writing scribbled off there, and Janus quickly scanned the page to find another place of coherency. One on the previous page looked promising, although nearly all of it was illegible as well._  
  
...Yes, perhaps they're the key!_ _If I can find a way -- there has to be a way -- if only I can hold it long enough, there _must _be a way!   
  
How did the ancients do it? I _know_ such madness did not run in their blood -- gods the blood! The _blood! _That must be it! It is his accursed blood in me doing this -- by Acies! I wish this had never fallen to me. I would end it if they would permit the action -- damn them! Damn all of them, they more than deserve what befell them.  
  
Is there a way to reverse what he has done to me? The damned Machine... Dear gods! I cannot take this! If there were any humanity left in me, I would destroy it all, I swear I would!_  
  
The door handle rattled, abruptly, startling Janus. Pause, and then it rattled again, more insistently. Obviously, Dalton knew someone was in his room, so there was no sense in trying to hide it. Janus closed the diary, closed the box, looked around -- good, there was no sign he'd disturbed the diary but the desk and closet had obviously been messed with. At least Dalton wouldn't know what he'd been after. Dalton slammed into the door, growling curses loud enough to be heard from within.   
  
Now Janus was left a bigger problem -- how to get out?  
  
The obvious answer were the windows, one of which overlooked a lake. Thankfully, Dalton's room wasn't too high up, so when Janus jumped into the water it didn't hurt much. He hoped Dalton would think whoever'd been in the room had teleported away and wouldn't check the windows, which would give him more time to get to his room.   
  
Janus' little adventure had given him much to think about, including when he would be able to get back in that room and finish reading Dalton's diary. Everything Janus did only left him with more questions -- What was Dalton after? Who was it that kept tormenting him? What was so important about the blood, and --   
  
_You promised me Schala!_  
  
And most importantly, how was Janus supposed to protect Schala when he didn't even know what the threat against her was?  
  
  
  
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When Ivy woke up, it was with something cold burning down her throat and Kirby's face inches away from her own. She breathed in instinctively, and choked on what her mouth now recognized was water. Kirby took the cup away and brought a cloth to clean the water that had spilled on her.   
  
"Ivy, we were so worried! Why'd you fight the Bloodreaver all on your own -- he almost killed you! Melchior says you have _magic, _is that true? But you're Earthbound, or at least Hedera was, I dunno about your daddy... Actually, I don't know even who your dad is. Isn't that weird? I've--"  
  
"Uncle Kirby."  
  
"...Yes?"   
  
"Where is Uncle Siris?"  
  
"...In...in there, with Melchior." He pointed to the door, and his eyes widened a moment later when she pushed the blankets away and dropped to the dirt floor of her bedroom, which she shared with Kirby. Hmmm. She wiggled her toes. No injuries. Her ankle was a little stiff and sore, but otherwise she was whole. Which meant Melchior had healed her.   
  
Hmmm.  
  
"Kirby, do me a favor?" He nodded eagerly. "Wait here with Thrustavies," she said, passing the stuffed toy to him. "I need to talk to them, and he doesn't like to be alone." Which was, of course, bullshit, but he bought it and didn't follow her.  
  
Ivy stepped through the door and closed it behind her. It was colder in this room, the one that served as Siris' office, and he and Melchior were seated at the table, talking quietly in hushed tones that silenced when she crossed the room and sat across from them.  
  
Finally, to break the silence, she said, "If I would have known it would be that easy, I would have killed him ages ago."  
  
Siris only scowled at her, which quickly dissolved into sadness, and when he finally spoke, his voice was so soft she scarcely heard it over the howling of the wind. Which sounded, disturbingly enough, like Bloodreaver's roar. "Ivy, there are some things we need to talk about."  
  
"I know," she said, leveling her gaze at him. Melchior sat forward with a sigh.  
  
"I'm not sure you understand the implications of what happened--"  
  
"No," Siris quickly cut him off, looking at her strangely, knowing her well enough to realize that the 'I know' meant _I know what you're going to say_, rather than _I know we have to talk_. Suspicion crept into his tone. "How _much _do you know?"  
  
Ivy refused to look away, despite the intensity of his eyes. Maybe now he would understand. "All of it." Melchior was startled, but Siris wasn't finished.  
  
Fraction of a pause. "Dalton?"  
  
"Yes, Uncle, I know who my father is." Unfortunately, she added silently as she watched for his reaction.  
  
His face went red -- with rage, Ivy knew the story behind her uncle and her parents, although no one had told her -- and he swallowed hard, clenching his hands into fists. His breath hissed out through his teeth. "If he finds out you exist he'll-"  
  
"Kill me. I know." And now, for the obvious question.  
  
"How?"  
  
"The visions." How else? What, he thought she was psychic too? Siris cursed under his breath. Melchior's reaction was neutral. All right. Siris had already explained her visions to him. Good to know.  
  
"Gods damned fucking--"  
  
"Siris," Melchior said sternly, glaring at him, "that is quite enough."   
  
For some reason, Siris suddenly became very angry. "Ivy, he's going to take you away, he--"  
  
"Siris!" Melchior snapped again. "I think she has already proven that we have vastly underestimated her. I'll not allow you to compound that mistake."  
  
"...Um, since it is _me_ we are discussing here, would you two please stop behaving like children and explain?"  
  
They started, as if having forgotten she was in the room. After a moment of awkward silence, Melchior allowed himself a chagrined smile.  
  
"She calls _us _children."  
  
"She certainly isn't one herself," Siris agreed quietly, the sadness returning to his eyes.  
  
_Stop talking about me like I'm not sitting here._ Now for a few questions of her own. "Melchior, first off what the hell were you doing out there?"  
  
He shrugged. "I always use the Skyway when I'm down here unauthorized. Zeal may know someone used it but she can't tell who, and can't trace it back to me. Safer than teleportation."  
  
Oh. That made sense. Pretty smart of him, actually. "Okay, if they have it in them, kids get their magic at _three_. I'm eight, it shouldn't be possible. I know since Mother was Earthbound I have -- _had _-- a fifty-fifty chance of getting it at all, but that shouldn't affect it, right? What happened? Why do I have it, and why so late?" And Ivy could _feel_ it, like thick, hot liquid streaming through her blood. But there would be time to puzzle that out later on.   
  
The old Guru sat back in his chair, watching her closely. "I don't know. But you realize this means that you will have to come to Zeal, Ivy."  
  
"...I can't stay here?" Her eyes flicked to Siris and the pained look on his face. He wasn't really even her Uncle, they weren't related at all, but he had been in love with her mother. Enough that he wanted to kill Dalton for having taken advantage of her. Enough that he had taken in Hedera's child upon her grisly death, although gods knew he had enough problems of his own between being in charge of the Earthbound, and his brother.  
  
Melchior spread his hands on the flat table top, sighed heavily. "Yes, you could stay here, but... Ivy, a child with untrained -- un_tamed_ -- magic is like... You can't just..." He sighed again, through his nose. "It is a force inside of you, wild and volatile, and as with any beast of the forest there are rules for dealing with it safely. If you break these rules not only do you die -- usually a very painful, messy death -- but it, well, without any sort of control..." Melchior trailed off, not sure how to phrase it.  
  
"Boom," she said.   
  
"Well, yes, actually. Boom." He looked up, met her eyes, narrowed his own in something akin to enlightenment, and suddenly switched tactics. "Ivy, I'm offering you a chance to learn, to know things about the world. Do you understand me? Zeal Kingdom is very different from Algetty." Siris snorted contemptuously, and Melchior glared him into silence again. "It's safer, quieter, warmer. Ivy, have you ever seen the sun? Ever seen grass, a lake, a _star_? Ivy, what this is, it's really quite simple. I'm giving you a chance to _live_."  
  
Simple...? When Hell froze over. He wasn't just offering her a chance to live, he was throwing wide the door to power, and he had no idea what he was letting in. It was the perfect opportunity for everything. Everything she needed to know, needed to see, needed to live firsthand. Would Schala be a better queen than her mother, or would she succumb to the siren song of Lavos as well? Would the Enlightened survive when his influence was torn away from them, or would the Earthbound be left to preserve the human species on their own? Was there some weakness of his they could exploit to increase their chances of destroying him?  
  
More importantly -- and Ivy realized this was pure pride seeping through -- would there be a place of importance for her in their civilization? She would not be satisfied playing at the role of a child for long, not when the people in charge were fucking themselves in the ass. But would the next ruler, Schala, accept her counsel? It was the curse of intelligence. Ivy would not be content with a life of peace, not by a long shot. She needed to be out there, doing things, changing things, making sure no one made another suicidal mistake like Lavos again. Arrogance? Vanity? Maybe. But then someone who knew what they were doing had to be in charge. Settle down, be happy? Someday, maybe. She didn't care about the stars. For now Ivy was still too much the fighter. Behind the scenes semi-control would do, at present. Or after Lavos actually. Whenever.   
  
Until then she would wait, learn everything _they _knew only learn it better, faster, more completely. Never again would anyone have an advantage over her. Behind-the-scenes she would be happy with. Second-best...? Like _hell_. She looked up at Melchior, met his gaze squarely.  
  
"All right."  
  
All the support in his bones seemed to dissolve with her words, and he sagged in his chair, a very old man. Ivy hadn't realized until then he'd actually thought she'd refuse. It was important to know how much he needed her up there. _It was_? she thought, then _Yes_. _Leverage_. Though she doubted she'd ever do anything against old Melchior. He was too vital in the Lavos plan, and beside that he was kind, and yes, all right, she cared about him.   
  
"Can I pack my stuff, do we have to leave right away?" Then something else hit her. "Janus."   
  
The Guru of Life looked confused for only a moment, then some sparkle came back into his eyes. They were pale green, Ivy noticed in some surprise. Like Siris'.   
  
Then the vision-compulsion slammed sickeningly into her stomach, so hard and fast it made her want to vomit. Her body, long used to such things, gave no outward sign, save a subtle un-focusing of her dark blue eyes. _Tell Janus. Tell him tell him tell him tell him tell him --_  
  
_Hells! Tell him what?!_  
  
_Everything_, the voice seemed to hiss. _Everything everything everything everything everything everything --_  
  
Melchior was saying something, and Ivy forced her awareness to focus back into the real world.  
  
"--bridge when we come to it, I suppose, though I doubt he'll even remember you. He was only down here a few hours, and that was last year."   
  
Whatever that bullshit was supposed to mean. Ivy knew at least to never underestimate the enemy, and was sure Janus was smarter than _they _were giving him credit for. He was the Prince of Zeal, after all, and even if -- supposing the rumors were true -- he skipped all his classes and frequently set the banquet hall afire, the bloodlines alone gave him more intelligence and power than all of Zeal combined -- aside from Schala and the Queen, of course. Obviously, she would have to handle the Janus thing on her own.  
  
"You're probably right," she said. Then, not at all patiently, "So when do we leave?"  
  
  
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Rast: A belated thank you to Mox Jet for letting me use his name for the CT planet -- Elosia. (And thanks for being so nice about the mess.) You can find his stuff here, at Icybrian.com and also at his own site, which you can get to from his profile here. I really recommend his works, especially the newer ones which are at Icybrian.com.

To **Ollen70** -- The Guru thing? Just keep reading, s'all I have to say. Next chapter gets a bit more in to Melchior's motivation for helping the Earthbound. And I'm glad you liked my Dreamstone theories. I wasn't really satisfied with what little bit about it the game gave us, and yeah, no one else explains it either. Or at least not that I've seen. I'm also glad it made sense, I was a little worried about that.   
  
Also, thank you MidnightW0LF for being my first fic-related email! ::singing:: Happy happy, joy joy! Happy happy, joy joy! ...Erhem. Anyway, thank you all again for the good reviews! ::hums the song again:: Hope you liked this chapter and I hope I can get the next one out soon enough! I hate it when it takes too long for people to update too, so I'll try my best. But it still depends on the library computers. 

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	13. Truth & Consequences

**Thicker Than Blood  
****  
Chapter 13  
  
Truth & Consequences**

  
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"Oh the truth? What is the truth? A lie, wrapped in a riddle and dipped in a dream?"  
- Nina, Just Shoot Me

  
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12,002 BC  
  
Tap, tap, thunk. Tap, tap, thunk. Twice on the table with one end of the chalk he used for writing -- he'd been banned from feather pens -- once on the open book in front of him with the other.   
  
Tap, tap, thunk.  
  
As Gaspar droned on and on, Janus did his best to stay awake. He'd been forced to take the long way 'round to get to his rooms the night before, and then had kept himself up until nearly dawn worrying and trying to puzzle out the insane ramblings from Dalton's diary -- submitting to sleep only when he came to the conclusion that he simply didn't have enough information for what he'd read to make any kind of sense.   
  
Tap, tap, thunk.  
  
He just would have to sneak in again. Not just yet, because Dalton would be on guard, but soon.   
  
Tap, tap, thunk. Tap, tap, thunk. Tap, tap...ping. Ping? Janus opened his eyes.   
  
Gaspar, unsurprisingly, stood beside him and had removed the book to replace it with a magnifying glass. Which explained the ping, but not the reason Gaspar had put it there. Or the reason the rest of the children in the class were grouped behind the door, each of them also clutching a magnifying glass. Janus frowned, thinking back while Gaspar stood with his arms crossed, tapping his foot.   
  
Oh. Right. Field trip. Swiping the glass, Janus sighed and hauled himself to his feet, trailing vaguely after the other children when Gaspar led them down the hall.  
  
He was trying. It was good that he was trying -- he had to keep reminding himself of this. Even though it was only to make things easier for Schala, even though no one seemed to care, he was trying. Janus especially made a point of going out of his way to be nice to Gaspar -- which only meant, essentially, he'd stopped disrupting class with spitballs and mudpies and the like, but it seemed to make Gaspar happy.  
  
They were supposed to be studying bugs, which seemed even more pointlessly stupid than usual. At least Earthbound History'd had a point. There was no way you needed to know about insect anatomy for anything in Zeal.   
  
When they got outside, Janus hung at the back of the class until they -- and Gaspar -- were a safe distance away, then spent a very entertaining hour burning ants with the magnifying glass in a bare patch of dirt hidden behind a large gray boulder. He ran out of ants after a while, and dug up a worm. It was just beginning to sizzle nicely when Gaspar caught him at it, confiscated the glass, then chased him off.  
  
Well, at least now he'd have an excuse for wandering off. When he was sure no one was watching him, Janus disappeared into the fringe of trees, quickly -- willingly -- loosing himself as the forest thickened. A little stream gurgled through the tall grass, and he followed it, though rather aimlessly. The forest was one of the larger ones in Zeal Kingdom, and he was soon deep enough within it to escape the children's laughing and Gaspar's shouted instructions.   
  
The whole place had a strange, darkly peaceful feeling about it. Dim light filtered through the green branches, making strange, dancing patterns of shadow and light on the forest floor. The stream Janus was following widened to a river, gradually growing deeper until the bottom was lost from view. Eventually, after what he guessed was about a half hour's slow walk, it led him to a small clearing. Perfect place to rest until he was ready to go back. Janus knelt down in the soft grass beside the river, cupping his hands and dipping them below the surface, then raising the cool liquid to his lips.  
  
"Hello, Janus. We need to talk."  
  
Janus choked on the water, nearly fell in the river, then whirled around. He knew that voice -- didn't he? -- but he was alone in the clearing -- Janus lifted his gaze to the trees. Black hair, blue eyes, looking somehow out of place in her loose Zealian robes she sat perched on a thick branch, half-hidden in the dark green shadows of what had to be the biggest tree Janus had ever seen. He couldn't think how he knew her -- paler, thinner than most children, the shadows shifting in eerie patterns over her skin -- then her features settled in a comfortable glare and Janus remembered.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?!"  
  
She returned his gaze steadily, a dangerous glitter flickering briefly in the depths of her eyes. "That's what we need to talk about."   
  
He couldn't remember her name -- something about a plant... Janus narrowed his eyes, felt anger shiver through him. How dare she! The Earthbound had no right to be in Zeal. Was this some sort of joke? Sneak into the Kingdom whenever the whim struck them? If they thought they could get away with it -- especially this brat --   
  
"Mother is going to kill you," Janus calmly informed her, meeting her heated glare with his own. He took note of the shudder that ran through her, the way she tried to hide it.   
  
She continued to stare at him for a moment, then said slowly, watching closely for his reaction, "Only if you tell her." He could only just hear the words over the rush of the wind through the leaves.  
  
Janus let a bit of his temper surface as it occurred to him this might be part of Dalton's plot -- whatever _that_ was -- and she may have some part to play in it. He took a step toward her tree, looking for a way up. "Is there a reason I shouldn't?" Ivy, he remembered. Her name was Ivy...and she was telepathic...  
  
Ivy sighed in frustration, clenching her teeth. "It depends."  
  
"On...?" Janus prompted, when it became apparent she didn't intend to continue.  
  
Her eyes narrowed. "On whether you've heard of Lavos or not." Janus' eyes snapped up to meet hers. "On his level of control over you. On how willing you are to help me destroy him."  
  
As the silence stretched between them, Janus felt something building in the air. It wasn't pleasant. Ivy leaned back against the huge tree trunk, her expression slightly smug, and he glared at her again. "How did you get up in that tree?" Janus asked.   
  
This was definitely not the response she expected. "There's, um," she blinked, put off. "There's another one you climb up and...the branches cross..." He glanced around. Oh. It was obvious, once you knew what to look for. Janus walked to the smaller tree and started the climb up. It was only a few short minutes before he reached the branch Ivy was perched on, and she scooted over a bit to make room for him.  
  
"How do you know about Lavos?"  
  
"How do you?" Ivy countered. She'd thought she'd be safe in the tree, and hadn't expected him to climb it. Janus merely stared at her with lifted eyebrows until she looked away, shifting uncomfortably. "I, um..." Ivy took a deep breath to regain her composure. "I have these dreams, sometimes...and visions." She was supposed to tell him everything, no matter how wrong it felt to expose the secrets. Her stomach twisted in knots, and she took another deep breath. Ivy began to speak again, but stopped herself. Janus wasn't listening, instead staring intently at something on the ground. Ivy swung her gaze around.  
  
A man stood beside the river, where Janus had been only moments before. He paced around impatiently, though he'd only just gotten there. He had brown hair, down to his shoulders, and was wearing some kind of uniform that appeared to made of velvet, complete with a cape and a long, thin sword -- for ceremony, Ivy judged. It looked too flimsy to use for real.  
  
"Who is he?" she whispered.  
  
"Shh!" Janus hissed at her.   
  
"Why? Who is he?"  
  
'_Shut up!_' He turned a heated glare on her. '_He's the captain of Zeal's guard, Dalton_.' That silenced her instantly, and Janus watched the emotions flicker quickly through her eyes -- shock, interest, then a strange mix of fear and anger. Was she involved with him after all?  
  
'..._Really_...' Ivy leaned forward, narrowing her eyes.  
  
'..._Does that mean something to you?_'  
  
'_In a way_.' She was watching Dalton closely, as if he might disappear or explode at any second. '_He's my father_.'  
  
"Wh-" Janus stopped himself, and they both froze until they were sure Dalton hadn't heard. '_What?!_'  
  
'_Damn it, be careful!'_ Ivy thought, her expression fierce._ 'He'll kill me if he finds out I exist._'  
  
'_How the hell can he be your father?!_'  
  
Ivy leveled her gaze on him. '_He had sex with my mother_.'  
  
Janus felt a blush rising in his cheeks, and scowled at her. '_You _know _what I meant_. _Dalton__ is Enlightened, you can not_ _possibly_ -'  
  
'_Wait_,' Ivy thought, her eyes focused intently at something on the ground. '_What's that?_'  
  
  
  
___________________________   
  
  
  
"You're late," Dalton snapped at the Nu as it stepped out of the trees. Dalton had always hated this forest, but the feeling was more pronounced today. It felt like he was being watched, and it made him more nervous than usual. "I can't keep doing this if you aren't even going to be here on time."  
  
The Nu merely blinked its single eye at him, waiting. There was something wrong with the man today. He was sweating, chewing his fingernails, pacing around in a circle. His fear was a thick, salty smell in the air, clogging the fresh scent of the forest, of water, of magic, and...what was that? Something different. The Nu inhaled deeply. Wind and shadow. Snow and darkness. Two children, perched high in the leafy branches overhead.  
  
"Someone was in my room last night, did -- " Dalton broke off, glaring at the purple creature in front of him. It was swaying slightly on its feet, its single eye half closed, its expression distant. "Are you listening to me?"   
  
It blinked, squinted, then said distinctly, "Yes."  
  
Dalton glared at it. He detested the Nus. A lot of Zealians detested Nus, but because they were such slow creatures. Stupid. Forever falling asleep on the job or causing accidents. Dalton hated them for a different reason. He had a strong suspicion that the Nus were planning something, wrapped up in some intricate scheme. And whatever they were doing, it involved Lavos. Dalton knew it in his blood.  
  
"Someone got into my room last night," he repeated. "Someone read my Book."  
  
That got its attention. Dalton watched as the Nu brought itself into focus. "The Book we gave you?"  
  
"Yes," Dalton snapped. "That one. Someone locked themselves in there with it."  
  
The Nu's eye narrowed. "How long were they in there?"  
  
"Ten minutes. But look, it has that spell on it -- the one you put there -- no one should even _seen_ the box, let alone been able to _touch _the thing, or the Book..." Dalton paused as strange expression had come over the Nu's...face. Suspicion filled him. "That's right, isn't? You told me no one could -- "  
  
"Hush," the Nu said crossly, grumbled quietly to itself, and closed its eye. After a moment, its breathing slowed, and to all appearances, it was asleep.   
  
Dalton knew better. He waited, tapping his foot impatiently, then began pacing again. The forest was deadly silent, and completely still. Watching. _Damn you_, Dalton thought fiercely. In the back of his mind, he felt the darkness laugh.  
  
"This is what you will do," the Nu said abruptly, and Dalton jumped, scared.   
  
"Shit," he mumbled, shivering.   
  
The Nu waited until he had calmed himself before continuing. "You will not burn the Book -- " Dalton's eyes snapped to the creature, then he thought, _Of course. They can read human thoughts as easy as breathing. I should have remembered that._  
  
_Yes_, hissed the darkness. _You should have_.  
  
"Leave me alone," he hissed back at it through clenched teeth. The Nu was waiting patiently for him, and Dalton glared at it. Nus were patience incarnate. Yet another reason they annoyed him.  
  
"You will not burn the Book," it repeated calmly. "You will not destroy it. You will not renew the guardian spell, or cast another. You will not carry it with you, you will not -- "  
  
"What the hell am I supposed to do then? Leave it there?" Dalton paused as realization struck. "You want them to find it, don't you?! It's, it's part of your damned plot, isn't it? Your -- "  
  
"If you remember the purpose of the Book," it told him quietly, "you will also remember it is part of yours."  
  
Dalton felt a stillness come over him, creeping through his blood to seize his heart in its cold talons. "Damn you," he hissed again, his eyes turned inward. "Damn you all..." He shivered. "Fine. You win." A white flash filled the clearing, and he was gone. The Nu lingered for a while longer, until the birds and the bugs and the other sounds of the forest returned, then he vanished as well.  
  
  
  
___________________________   
  
  
  
After few more minutes, Janus climbed out of the tree to stand in the grass beside the river, followed closely by Ivy.  
  
"He's insane," she managed, shaken. "Completely fucking crazy."  
  
Janus watched her closely. "Why are you even here?" he asked at last. Her reaction to Dalton had left no doubt in his mind she'd never had anything to do with him before, but then, why would she be in Zeal?  
  
Ivy stared down into the river. "I told you he's my father. But my mother was Earthbound. Because my blood is mixed fifty-fifty between that, I have a fifty-fifty chance of getting the...gifts of either one."  
  
"Magic or nothing."  
  
She frowned. "I wouldn't say the Earthbound have nothing. _You _go down there and try to kill the cannibal deer, using only stone and wooden weapons. Or fight off an attack from those monsters that live on Mount Woe." Ivy looked up at him. "Even surviving down there takes more than your people have. All you can -- "  
  
"All right," Janus snapped. "I get it."  
  
Ivy glared at him, that dangerous glitter returning to her eyes. "No. You don't. But I think you did get my point, at least." A tension filled silence stretched between them before she continued. "I killed Bloodreaver yesterday."  
  
Janus couldn't think of what she meant for a moment, then he lifted stunned, incredulous eyes to meet hers. "That demon thing?! The one that attacked us?" From what Janus could remember, Ivy had been even more terrified of it than he had.   
  
Ivy nodded slowly, her eyes distant. "You know, he ate my mother. A long time ago. I saw him do it. I watched. And...I didn't swear an oath or anything like that, but I _knew _one day I would kill him for it. Or die trying. So yesterday I fought him, just to get it over with. And I won." She paused. "I wasn't expecting that."  
  
"...I, uh, I don't see the point of this..."  
  
She narrowed her eyes. "I'm getting there, you just keep interrupting. I was going to say that while I was fighting him... Hells, you saw him, you know there should be no chance of me winning against something like that. But... He stood there, and his mouth was dripping blood, and he looked exactly the way he did when he ate her, I... I just lost it. And then there was this explosion in my blood, and... I knew what it was," Ivy added after a moment. "You can't have it and _not _know."  
  
"Magic," he said, failing to keep the bitterness out of his tone. "You have magic." _Damn_. She was even half-_Earthbound _and she got it, but he was the Prince of Zeal, and _nothing_. "So, you want to live here now, is that it?"  
  
Ivy took a step back, watching him carefully. "Melchior says if I don't get training for it, it's dangerous."  
  
"Fine," he snapped. "Absolutely perfect." Janus started for the path -- then stopped at the edge of the clearing, turned around. Ivy was still watching him. "I was the one in Dalton's room," he said. Slight surprise there, but she nodded. "I'm going to go back. I think he's planning something -- I _know _he is -- and that book they were talking about is the key."   
  
Ivy nodded again, slowly. "...That purple thing knew we were up there," she offered quietly. "You saw the way it was sniffing? It smelled us up there."  
  
For a long time, Janus just stared at her, weighing possibilities in his mind. "You can stay," he said at last. The relief in her eyes was visible. "For now," he added, then frowned at her. "But don't expect me to be nice to you."  
  
  
___________________________ 

Rast: My computer crashed. I'm sorry, that's why I've been out so long. I had expected it, but not this badly. Anyway, its better now, so things should get back to normal.

Mox Jet has asked me to include a link to his site, so I guess that means it didn't show up when I put one in last chapter. I'm not sure if hyperlinking is something FanFiction.Net has blocked, but I have had trouble with this before. At the beginning of this paragraph the words 'Mox Jet' should link you there, but in case it isn't showing up there should be a link after this sentence as well.

And in case that didn't work either, here's the link you'll have to copy/paste into the thingie: ;

And if even _that didn't work, here it is with a space between the words 'fantasy' and 'finale' and between 'http:' and '//www.' so delete the spaces and it should work: http: //www.fantasy finale.com/planeswalkeruniverse _

___________________________


	14. Castles in the Sky

**Thicker Than Blood  
  
Chapter 14  
  
Castles in the Sky  
**

  
___________________________  
  
  


"Do not be quick to reveal judgment. Hidden judgment often is more potent.   
It can guide reactions whose effects are felt only when too late to divert them."   
- Bene Gesserit, Dune  


  
  
___________________________  
  
12,002 BC  
  
It was easy to look at something as beautiful as the Kingdom of Zeal and not think of the evil lurking behind it. Life was full of things like that, where things of great beauty hid things of great danger. Spraying on too much perfume to conceal the rotting stench beneath. Ivy knew Lavos was somewhere beneath the earth, but in Zeal she felt his presence closer than she ever had in Algetty.  
  
It didn't take long for Ivy to settle in, even though everything was different in Zeal. The food, the people, the clothing. The air itself was different. Cleaner, somehow. It would have been simple to let herself be seduced as all the Enlightened had, so Ivy deliberately looked for the bad things about Zeal Kingdom. Like the stuck up people. Like the oppressive heat that was so intense she would sometimes have trouble breathing.  
  
She longed for snow.  
  
Ivy had her own room, all to herself. It was as big as the entrance cave back in Algetty. Cold marble floors polished to a gleaming shine, huge windows that were surprisingly difficult to open, so the first time she could wrestle them wide enough, she left them like that. It was much, much too hot in Zeal. And somehow having a constant breeze flowing through her room made it seem more...hers.   
  
There was even huge porcelain tub in one corner with pipes that brought in hot water whenever she wanted it. Ivy bathed in it every night., scrubbing until her skin was pink. In Algetty, you'd only get to bathe about once a month, and then it was with rags dipped in melted snow.   
  
The kitchens were wonderfully chaotic, always in a rush to prepare a feast for someone somewhere. No one ever noticed when she was there, or else they didn't mind. They certainly had enough food not to miss the little she took. In Algetty, they'd always been real careful about food. Rationed it, 'cause you never knew if you'd have enough for tomorrow, or next week, or enough to last through a blizzard too fierce for hunting in. And the food itself was incredible. Much better than dried deer jerky.  
  
For the first couple of weeks, life was pretty simple. Ivy woke up every morning around dawn, ate breakfast of whatever she'd snuck into her room the day before, then went off to the library until midmorning.   
  
The library was a huge room, with two floors, though the second one was more of a large wrap-around balcony and Ivy wasn't sure how to get up there. The bottom floor was enough to satiate her curiosity for the present. It was like a maze, the shelves impossibly tall, and after the first few chaotic rows, the light dimmed enough that Ivy longed for a torch, but only dared to bring a small candle in among the endless, dusty mess of books. Its feeble, flickering flame was scarcely enough to hold back the shadows a few feet, seeming only to make the seething darkness deeper, more alive, as if the shadows were angry with her intrusion into their domain.   
  
Ivy knew it was silly, but she _believed _in the invisible things lurking in the shadows. The childish belief of monsters under the bed. Things that go bump in the night. Her visions had taught her all too well that just because you couldn't see a thing didn't mean it wasn't real. And that didn't apply to stuff like the wind, natural parts of reality everyone could feel. There were some forces in the world only the inside part of you could sense.   
  
But all of you could be afraid.  
  
Nearly all of the books on the shelves were way too complicated for her to understand, but there was a shelf at the very back with its bottom row empty, and whenever Ivy saw something promising, she tucked it away for later. A few books on herbs actually had pictures that were in color. She also found a book on Enlightened history, and a whole bunch on wind magic.  
  
When Melchior came to get her for magic lessons, he would teleport them to some remote part of Zeal where they would go unnoticed, usually close to the edge. It felt so exhilarating to stand there and just look over the end of the kingdom, seeing all the miles solid rock beneath her feet drop off into _nothing_, with fat white clouds stretching out like snow as far as she could see. The wind was much wilder near the edge as well, much more fierce without any buildings or trees to take the teeth out of its bite.  
  
First Melchior ran her through a bunch of tests, which he wouldn't tell her the purpose of, though most of it seemed to have no purpose. He wouldn't even tell her, when the testing was over, what she'd done.   
  
And then that was it. No more anything to do with magic.   
  
"You're supposed to tell me how to use it! That was the whole purpose of me coming up here!"  
  
"I apologize if you thought I was going to teach you everything right away, " he'd said, not really meaning it. "You are simply too young, Ivy. Children are not taught to use their magic until thirteen."  
  
"That's five years! You expect me to sit around on my ass until then? Melchior, this isn't going to work. What am I supposed to do here?"  
  
"Go to school, like a normal child should. Make friends, play with people your age that won't try to kill you on a daily basis."  
  
That afternoon, at the library, she took the simplest looking book she'd been able to find on wind magic -- _Where the Wind Goes. _She was willing to risk being caught. In Algetty, fighting was what mattered. In Zeal, it was magic. Just a fancy name and a bunch of stupid rules for what, in the end, was essentially a weapon. And Ivy was not the kind of person to let it go to waste.  
  
But she was a little nervous to start teaching herself to use it, and pretty soon she'd have to go to school with all the other kids and then there wouldn't be time for it in the day. Which was just as well, because if she snuck out at night it was less likely she'd be seen. It would cut into sleeping, but that might turn out to be a good thing for one very simple reason.  
  
The nights were Hell.  
  
The Dreamstone did _nothing _to stop the nightmares. And they were all the same.   
  
Darkness, so complete it felt _alive_. Smoke she couldn't see burned her eyes, forced her to blink back stinging tears. Monsters brushing slimly skin against her, the smell of wet blood and rotting flesh, the shrieking, sniggering voices whispering just soft enough that she couldn't make out the words -- and that horrible presence, huge, heavy enough to make the stinking, hot air hard to breathe. Then it would get slowly lighter, but it was a dirty kind of light, dark red, like blood or lava. And it didn't come from overhead, it was in front. Squatted low to the ground.   
  
The things slid to just beyond her vision, into dusty shadows just dark enough to offer only the suggestion of form, but what she saw, what she couldn't avoid seeing, made her stomach roll and try to claw its way up her throat. Then the huge shadow would scream and the eye would open to whirling blue, and -- and sometimes she woke up right then but sometimes she didn't, but all she could ever remember when she did wake up was seeing Enlightened people all around her, staring blank-eyed and slack-jawed at Lavos, even though she _knew _the dream went on for much, much longer.  
  
There was a sense of urgency about the dreams she didn't understand. It would leave her in the dark, sitting up in bed, gasping for breath, and trying not to look to closely at the darkness and wishing like hell she had enough courage to crawl over the bed to the table by its side and light the candle. Ivy knew then that, wind element or no, the first magic she taught herself would be to make light. She thought the dreams might be because of her magic, there was such a burning in her blood, but at least it took the edge of fear away, between the long, dark hours until the sun rose.  
  
It did not take Ivy long to catch herself up the level of the Enlightened kids her age, and Melchior didn't seem surprised when she told him she was ready to join them. He just looked at her, hard, then sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose like he had a headache, and told her to be ready tomorrow morning.  
  
Gaspar's class was even more disappointing than Melchior's lessons.  
  
They were learning plants, which should have been interesting, but it was really, _really _basic stuff and Ivy knew most of it already, and even so Gaspar had a way of teaching that made rocks seem more entertaining. Ivy yawned, and looked around the classroom from her seat alone at the table before last. More than half the kids were asleep, and the other half weren't paying attention either. One child in particular...  
  
A spitball hit the back of her neck. It was disgustingly _warm_.   
  
She closed her eyes, flattened her palm on the table, took a deep breath, and continued taking notes.  
  
Another spitball joined the first.  
  
Ivy hated to admit it, but there were things she missed about Algetty. Good, clean, honest malice was one. None of this amateur stuff. In Algetty, you either were prepared for war, or you kept your mouth shut and stayed the hell away from those who were. In Algetty, you fought with knives and teeth and rocks and anything sharp that hurt.  
  
In Zeal they used saliva coated wads of paper.  
  
Another of which went _splat _in her hair.  
  
At least she knew what he'd meant with that cryptic remark about being nice. But then, he needed to learn that she wasn't very nice either. And it was about time someone stood up to his prissy spoiled ass.  
  
Ivy tore the sheet of paper in half, waded up the clean half and stuffed it in her cheek. She watched Janus's reflection in the window by Gaspar's blackboard as he reloaded the glass tube. He had his chair tilted back and his feet were propped up on the desk.   
  
Janus took aim and fired. Ivy ducked to the side, spit the wad of paper into her hand and turned, hitting him square between the eyes with it. There was only a brief second to savor the open shock on his face before the force of her throw overbalanced his chair and sent it crashing to the floor.  
  
Gaspar whirled around and met with a crowd innocent faces bent over their notes.  
  
"Janus?"  
  
The prince quickly appeared behind his desk, his face red with fury and embarrassment, his eyes narrowed in hatred at Ivy. Spitwad dripped slowly over his nose.  
  
Gaspar's eyes surveyed the room, taking in the spitballs in Ivy's hair, the torn sheet of paper beside her, the size of the spitwad on Janus's face, and the scarcely controlled amusement in Ivy's eyes as well as the laughter she was fighting to bite back. The other children peered up at him with carefully veiled expectancy.   
  
He returned to the board.  
  
"Ahem. Where were we? Ah, yes..."  
  
Janus felt a shudder of fury run through him toward the Guru, but he'd suspected that reaction. Janus wiped the paper off his face and righted his chair with hands that shook. He spent the rest of class planning things. When Gaspar finally dismissed them he was the first one through the door. He waited in the shadows until Ivy emerged, and was about to confront her when she ducked into the shadows on the other end of the hall, blending in so well that if Janus hadn't watched when she went in he wouldn't have known she was there. _What the hell is she doing...?_   
  
His question was answered when Gaspar stepped out of the classroom, locked the door behind him, and started off down the hall. The moment his back was to her, Ivy followed him. Not so that he would notice, but close enough that Janus was astonished Gaspar didn't know she was there. Janus followed Ivy following Gaspar until they reached the doors to the palace. Gaspar kept going. Ivy stopped on the steps and watched him until he disappeared in the cave that eventually led to Kajar. Janus watched her a bit longer, and was on the brink of turning to leave when she spoke.  
  
"Janus, why did Gaspar walk all the way down here when he could have just teleported? Is there some rule against it?"  
  
He scowled at her. She still hadn't turned around. "How did you know I followed you?"  
  
Ivy shrugged. "Instinct, I guess. I may have heard you, or saw you and just didn't realize it." She turned toward him, looking bored. "Why did Gaspar go this way?"  
  
"How the hell am I supposed to know?"  
  
Ivy sighed. "That's what I thought you'd say." She looked at him for a moment. "He knew we were following him."  
  
"...And the point is?"  
  
"Haven't you ever thought it strange that the Guru of Time spends his days teaching children instead doing something worthwhile with his time, like Melchior and Bethashar?"  
  
Janus merely arched his eyebrows at her. "Excuse me?"  
  
Ivy sighed, and shook her head at him. "Never mind." She sounded tired. When she began walking back to where her bedroom was, he followed.  
  
Janus was beginning to realize that all hatred aside, she was his best chance at getting what he wanted from Dalton. The man knew someone had been in his room, and knew they would be back. On his own, there was no way in hell Janus would be able to pull it off without being caught.   
  
"Look," he said quickly, before his mind changed itself. "I'm going back to Dalton's room tonight. I know its dangerous, but its the only way to--"  
  
"Okay."  
  
Janus stopped walking and glared at her. Ivy glared right back just as fiercely.   
  
But she was the one to look away first.   
  
"If we're going to be partners in this," Ivy said quietly with her eyes on the floor, "you need to understand some things." Ivy paused. He waited impatiently. She took a deep breath. "I'm not going to be able to explain everything I do." Ivy finally met his eyes. "Sometimes _I _don't even know why I do things. It's the visions. They _make _you. They're making me fight Lavos. Last year, they made me go out into the forest with my bow and wait in the top of a tree. A few weeks ago they did the same thing." She watched his eyes widen in recognition. "They aren't something I can control. They're something that controls _me_."  
  
Janus was sure that somewhere he was still furious with her over the spitwad, but at the moment he was too confused to express it. "All right," he said cautiously. Ivy nodded.  
  
"Okay. So tonight, I'm in charge because I'm the only one with experience in this."  
  
"All right..."  
  
"All right. Be in the library at midnight."  
  
___________________________  
  
Rast: Huh. Down for four weeks and all the reviewers forget you exist. Go figure.  
  
___________________________ 


	15. The Book of the Damned

** Thicker Than Blood  
  
Chapter 15**  
  
**The Book of the Damned**  


  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  


The ultimate function of prophecy is not to tell the future, but to make it.  
- Joel A. Barker  


  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  
12,002 BC  
  
Janus saw her long before she got close to where he was. Followed her progress by the flickering of the tiny candle flame as it weaved through the bookshelves on the ground floor of the library until it disappeared in the hallway that led to the second floor. She emerged a few minutes later from the hallway's other end behind him. She didn't say how she'd known exactly where to find him, and he didn't ask.  
  
"Put the candle out and leave it here. We'll come back for it when we're done." Janus walked away, and stopped after a minute when he realized she wasn't following. He turned around. Ivy hadn't moved.  
  
"If you think I'm going out there in the dark_, _you're _insane_," she hissed. Her hand was cupped protectively around the little flame, trying to keep it from going out because she was shaking to much for it to keep steady.  
  
Janus glared at her. "The light will give us away. Stop being silly." He frowned. "I thought you said you knew how to do this kind of thing."  
  
Ivy quickly closed the distance between them. Her eyes, narrowed in a glare, were an even darker blue than usual. There was a tense, electric filled silence before she pulled a square of cloth out of the bag she carried, put out the candle flame, poured the liquid wax in the cloth, and carefully tucked the whole mess into the bag.  
  
"All right. Let's go," Ivy said quietly, but her voice still hitched. She was careful not to look at the deep places in the shadows. "Quickly, but silence over speed." He just stared at her. "What the hell is wrong with you? Go!"  
  
Janus ignored her. "You're afraid of the dark, aren't you?" Ivy's only answer was a full body shiver. Her skin looked much to pale, and after a moment, he just shook his head and kept walking, leading her through the moonlit hallways, taking the long way around through the shadows to avoid Dalton and his guards.   
  
How could anyone _fear _the dark? Janus had always felt safer at night than any other time. Even when he had nightmares, waking up to total darkness was a comfort, not something to be terrified of. Darkness didn't just hide things, darkness made things equal. In the dark it didn't matter if you --   
  
A hand clamped over his mouth, dragging him backwards into the deep shadows until he was up against the wall.  
  
'_Dammit, Ivy, what the_--' She jerked her hand away.  
  
'_Hush! Someone's coming_.'   
  
Janus turned his furious glare on her. '_Don't you _ever _touch me again_.'  
  
Ivy's glare was just as heated. '_Not something you'll ever have to worry about, asshole_.'  
  
'What _did you just_--' Janus broke off the thought and both of them froze.  
  
Dalton walked by.   
  
Neither child moved until long after his footsteps had faded.  
  
Ivy shivered and turned to him. None of the fury in her eyes had faded, and now there was fear in them as well. "Let's just get this over with, okay?"  
  
Janus didn't say a word, just glared at her for a long, silent minute, and then continued down the hall.   
  
Dalton's room, when they finally got to it, was locked. Janus started to suggest they find some way to get in through the windows when Ivy lay her pack on the floor and took out a few thin, strangely twisted pieces of steel.   
  
'_I can do it in Algetty_,' Ivy told him when she noticed his stare. She peered at the lock, then carefully slid one of the picks into it. '_I don't know if it will still work right here, the doors are different and I haven't had the time to_--' The doorknob clicked softly. Ivy looked surprised, but stepped aside. '_After you_.'  
  
Only one thing in Dalton's room had changed; a bowl of dried flower petals was on the window sill, but the air was still hot and musty from being trapped in there. The candles were still in the same place -- and so was the book. While Ivy went around opening windows, Janus drug the box out from under the bed.   
  
"Here, come help me lift it, the thing is at least--" He stopped. Ivy's eyes were locked on the box. Her face had gone white. "What is it?"  
  
"I don't know," she whispered shakily. "But it isn't good." Ivy came closer, until she could see the words engraved beneath the silver vines on the mahogany surface. "What does it say?" Her hands were shaking.  
  
"I don't know," Janus said, and opened the lid. A strangled sound escaped her. Her hand reached out, she jerked it back.   
  
"Hells," she breathed.  
  
Ivy touched the book.  
  
In front of her the world became a starburst. Ice crackling over ice. Then the stars went black.  
  
She was falling through oblivion, faster and faster, until the wind roared around her and she couldn't see anything but darkness rushing by. Silvery white shadows shot down after her, without faces, without form, but very real and very alive. Cold whispers rose over the fury of the wind, drowned it out, replaced it completely.   
  
There were thousands.   
  
They streamed down toward her in a spiral, so many going so fast they blurred together into a wall of screaming, wailing specters. Some of them were crying out for death, some for vengeance, some for life, but all of them were angry and all of them wanted blood.  
  
Her blood.  
  
The first caught up with her and split cleanly down its center. Row after row of ghostly teeth rolled outward. The wraith slammed into her stomach at full speed, wriggled, _forced _its way inside. Ivy opened her mouth, screamed at the sudden white-hot pain. Her throat was burning, but the only thing that came out was a hot, thick stream of blood. Ivy choked, clawing at her throat, and the other ghosts were almost at her, they were splitting open, and baring their jagged teeth. One hit her, and another, and then they were pouring into her --  
  


_Somewhere in the darkness of Zeal Palace, a Nu with one eye jerked suddenly awake._  
  


-- and the world came crashing back down around her, Janus' hands clamped over her mouth, and her stomach rolling and bucking. Ivy only just made it to the little bowl of sweet-smelling dried flowers when her stomach clawed its burning way up her throat and heaved its contents into the bowl. Long after she was through, Ivy stayed there, taking in deep draughts of fresh air from the open window.  
  
Janus eyed the box warily. "It's just a book."  
  
Ivy laughed a little hysterically. "Sure, Janus. Just a book. In the same way Hell is just unpleasant."  
  
But nothing had happened the first time _he'd_ touched it. And something had definitely happened to her. Was it...was it because of her connection to Dalton, or...the fact that she had magic? Janus narrowed his violet eyes at the maroon leather cover.   
  
He'd be damned, Janus thought as he brushed his fingers over the cover, before was going to let --   
  
In front of him the world exploded. Fire bloomed into a raging inferno. Then all the lights faded to shadow.  
  
Everywhere, as far as Janus could see, the world was a swirling blue vortex. The black wind screamed all around him, tugging at his robes, his hair, and something inside of him, twisting and worming its way into his very soul, until he felt like he'd been frozen from the inside out.   
  
Then the people began to appear.  
  
First it was a man. Tall, light brown hair, robes and jewelry fit for a king.  
  
Then it was Zeal.   
  
And they just stood there for a while, not saying a word, not moving, not even breathing. Then other people began to appear. Slowly at first, and then faster, until it seemed like every man, woman, and child in the whole of the Kingdom of Zeal stood on the writhing blue surface.  
  
Even Schala.  
  
The black wind increased the pitch of its scream, higher and higher and higher, and deeper, more full-throated, until it wasn't a wind at all, it was a cry of absolute rage. It cut off in a sickening, liquid burble.  
  
Then they began to burn.  
  
And that was when the people came alive, and _screamed_,like nothing he had ever heard before, worse even than the wind because this was _real_, it was real living people in agony. They were running around, rolling, trying to put out the fire that was eating the flesh away from their bones, dropping it in charred hunks on the ground. Janus tried closing his eyes, but it didn't work, it didn't make the screaming go away, didn't take away the _sounds _of people burning, didn't erase the picture frozen in his mind, of even _Schala _burning to nothing but a charred skeleton, and --   
  


_The Nu looked up at the crescent moon that hung in the sky, felt the cool trickle of the night wind over its skin, and then it closed its single eye and disappeared in a white flash._  


  
-- and it was a damned good thing Ivy had placed the empty bowl in his hands because no way in _hell _could he have made it all the way across the room.   
  
"What the hell was that?" Janus finally managed in a strangled whisper.  
  
"I think they were ghosts, I--" She stopped. He was staring at her.   
  
"What did you see?"  
  
"What did _you _see?"  
  
They glared at each other for a long, tense moment. Janus would have died before he'd admit it, but the familiarity of fighting with her was somehow a comfort. Not everything had changed, the world was still sane, and Ivy was still a bitch.  
  
"Mine was a warning," Ivy finally conceded, and dropped her eyes. "A fuck-the-hell-off-and-don't-touch-me-again kind of warning." _I think..._   
  
It had either been _GO AWAY_ or _YOU'RE MINE_...  
  
Either way, just the thought of it made her want to be sick again.  
  
Janus swallowed, wishing he had something to get the sour taste out of his mouth. "I think mine may have been the future," he whispered at last.  
  
The soft sigh of the wind through the trees and over the water was the only sound for a long time.  
  
"Burn it," Ivy said at last, her voice full of conviction and fear. She glared at the book and couldn't suppress a shudder of revulsion. "It's--" She was shaking her head, backing away from it like it was alive and might eat her at any moment. "It's not _right_. It shouldn't... I mean, it's..."   
  
Janus knew what she was trying to say. The book was wrong on some fundamental level he couldn't quite put his finger on. But they couldn't just burn the damned thing. They needed it. He knew that in the same way he knew the book wasn't right. It was probably the only link they had to Lavos, and whatever the hell it was Dalton was doing.  
  
"Can you do any magic yet?" Janus asked her quietly, reaching a decision. Ivy shook her head, never taking her eyes off the book. "All right." He closed the box, and stood to his feet. "We can't keep coming here to get to the book. We can't take the book with us because Dalton will follow it to us." He looked up and met her eyes. "We'll have to wait until you learn to cast illusions." Ivy saw where he was going and shook her head, fear creeping through the anger in her eyes. "Then we sneak in here, steal the book, and leave an illusion for as long as it takes to get what we need."  
  
"No," Ivy said, her voice shaking. "No. You can do it all by your fucking self because there is no way in hell I'm touching that..._thing _again." She shivered, holding on to herself.  
  
Janus ignored her, pushing the box back under the bed, emptying the evidence of his vision out over the window into the lake, putting out the candles, and closing all the windows. Finally finished, he turned to her.   
  
"No. You're coming with me because I can't do this by myself." Ivy opened her mouth to protest so he just talked faster. "This might be the only chance we have against Lavos. Are you willing to risk everything because you were too chicken shit to take on a _book_? No -- _no_, shut up and listen to me. I am not going to let you back down when something you could do might save my sister, all right? You won't have to touch it if you're so scared. I will. Okay?"   
  
Ivy nodded, slowly, her eyes completely taken over by the fear. "Okay."  
  
Janus took a deep breath. "Good." He opened the door. "Now let's get out of here."  
  
  
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Rast: Ya'll can thank Ollen70 for this one getting out so fast. I think that's one of my favorite reviews so far. Anyway, this is pretty much the halfway point for part one. (Cue bells, party whistles, and confetti.) I think I can get it done in 30 but if not, I _know_ it won't be more than 35. For part one. It won't be over, it'll just be...well, to sound corny and cliche, this is just the beginning of the...well, of the beginning.  
  
Anyway, regardless, the chapters should start getting out faster. Especially if you leave gobs and gobs of reviews. Not that I'm one of those authors that'll hold off chapters until they get a certain number of review, but... well, those of you that write know how it is. The more people like it, the more you want to write it.  
  
Which brings me down to business.   
  
C'mon.   
  
Won't take you but a minute.  
  
You know you wanna.   
  
It's a little button.  
  
You know the one.  
  
It's right...  
  
...down...  
  
...there.  
  
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	16. Of Past Regret and Future Fear

**Thicker Than Blood****  
  
Chapter 16  
  
Of Past Regret and Future Fear**

  
___________________________  
  


"This is war.   
You must be prepared to sacrifice anything for victory."  
- Unknown

  
  
___________________________  
  
12,002 BC  
  
It took seven days for Siris to round up enough Earthbound to satisfy the queen, and even then they barely filled the minimum number. In the end, he was left with only forty warriors -- all but a precious few of them either much, much too young to hunt or so old they could barely hold a spoon to slurp gruel, let alone a spear against the likes of the creatures on Terra Continent.  
  
He didn't know whether to break down in tears or laugh himself to hysteria.   
  
So Siris looked on in silence as all the strongest, best trained of his men were lined up and teleported five at a time to the kingdom above the clouds. Melchior and Gaspar made all the appropriate sympathetic noises and stayed long enough to decide they had been left with no choice but to find another path to Lavos.   
  
Ivy would be furious.   
  
But in the end Melchior and Gaspar retreated, as they always did, to the safe warmth of Zeal Kingdom and left Siris alone in Algetty, in the middle of one of the worst winter's they'd ever had, with over two hundred people to feed and only forty men to hunt with.  
  
They would have to get someone else involved now, someone in a position of enough power to actually have an effect on the desperate circumstances. Schala was the only choice.   
  
After the handling the many complaints, after stamping out budding rebellions, after leading a hunting party into the blizzard, after personally carrying steaming bowls of roasted venison to the guards at the Beast's Nest, Siris lay alone in the cool, peaceful darkness of his room.   
  
He reached out his mind to the little girl he had raised.  
  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  
  
Zeal lay awake in the middle of her bed, blankets drawn up to her chin, fully clothed. She looked up through the skylight above her at the stars, shimmering like little snowflakes suspended in oblivion. Like tears frozen on a dark ocean. Pinpricks of life in the emptiness of existence.  
  
Zeal felt like that. Small, insignificant. A tiny bit of soul swallowed up by something huge and black and infinitely hungry.   
  
Lavos had left very little of her soul, and that speck was slowly flickering out. She felt like a candle in the midst of a tornado, a rainstorm, throwing out her dwindling light into the darkest night ever created.   
  
The beast did not need sleep, and had not left enough of her for her body to require it, but Zeal still went to bed every night to keep up appearances. Every night, glazed eyes stared up at the stars, longing for release. Every night, the tiny fragment of her soul withered a bit more.  
  
Every night, Queen Zeal prayed to die.  
  
She was aware of the things Lavos did through her body, the atrocities he committed in her name, the things he did to her people, even going so far as to involve the poor Earthbound. She watched her people slipping farther into him with the passing of each day, watched him swallow up their minds.   
  
Zeal had fought him, at first, fought furiously for all she was worth, until he taught her how futile it was to fight him. Like an ice cube fighting a firestorm. Then she could only watch him devour, slowly, everything and everyone she cared about. Watch as he literally took away their souls.  
  
Excepting those of her children and the Gurus -- and Dalton, of course. With Lavos' will smothering her own, with his mind a cage around hers she knew some of the things he did. The things he allowed her to know.  
  
And a few things he didn't.  
  
Lavos would get very upset, occasionally, when things went wrong, and then, if she played it carefully, Zeal could get a good look at the mind behind the shifting shades of darkness.  
  
And on the night Tieron had tried to kill her, things had gone very, very wrong.  
  
Her near miscarriage of Janus, to be precise.  
  
And oh, how he'd fought for that child. Fought and snarled and clung to that little life, refusing to let the tiny light burn out before it'd had a chance to shine.   
  
Zeal could still feel the panic flooding from him in heavy, choking waves when he'd realized what was happening in her body, the true extent and purpose of Tieron's attack. He'd been filled with fury and terror all in one sickeningly intense moment.  
  
She'd seen, then, because he was too terrified of losing her baby boy to hide it from her.  
  
She'd seen a great deal in that one instant.  
  
So Zeal was aware of Dalton's purpose, as well as that of his daughter, and would watch the little girl and her son in their private quest to destroy Lavos and protect Schala from him.   
  
It was the one thing that kept her sane, the one thing that Zeal lived for. Knowing what she did, watching them, seeing how perfectly it all fit together.  
  
So she knew the what of Lavos' plan for them, if not the how and why.   
  
Because that was his one weakness, those two little children, and he was doing everything in his power to protect them.  
  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  
  
No one knew where they had come from -- most didn't even know they existed -- but Masa, Mune, and Doreen were proving to be invaluable in forging the Dreamstone weapon.   
  
Condensing the stone would be impossible without them, Melchior realized. Not only did they know things about how Dreamstone worked but they could fasten themselves to the blade, increasing its strength a hundred fold.   
  
Even so, the number of problems they ran into was ridiculous.   
  
Formulas would go missing. Every time Melchior turned his back on the forge, the fire went out. He would leave the room and come back to find it locked, with the keys inside. Any book he so much as thought of disappeared. His tools rusted over night. The room itself -- a forge, designed to resist such things -- caught fire seven times in one week, and only quit when Schala laid so many fireproofing spells on it he could barely get the forge lit.   
  
Almost as if something didn't want their work to succeed.  
  
He didn't think the name, didn't let on about his suspicions to Masa, Mune, and Doreen.  
  
He put the question to his oldest and closet friend.  
  
"You're doing _what _with Dreamstone?"  
  
"Condensing it," Melchior repeated for what felt like the thousandth time. "But Bethashar, really, I need -- "  
  
"That's brilliant, Melchior! How did you think of it?"  
  
"I didn't... It... He did."  
  
That silenced the other Guru. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "...Siris?"  
  
Melchior took a deep breath, leaned back in his chair, and released it. They were in Belthashar's comfortable, roomy office. A fire crackled softly in the hearth -- Zeal Kingdom may have had more technologically advanced methods of heating a room, but there was something about a fire that relaxed as well as warmed.  
  
Silence settled between the old men, broken only by Melchior's labored breathing.  
  
It was easier if he didn't think about it. It was easier if he didn't remember. It was easier if he acted as if she'd never existed.  
  
Melchior had never been one to take the easy way out.  
  
Even though it hurt to see the young man, he did, digging up some excuse to be down there nearly every day. Just so he could watch, fascinated, at the things of her he saw so clearly in Siris. The young man was so much like her -- her hair, her smile, her laughter. It made his heart bleed, as if it were being cut with a thousand tiny pieces of glass each time it beat.  
  
"I miss her, Bethashar," he heard his choked voice say. "Terribly. I wake up in the night and I reach out for her and when all my hands can find is empty sheets it makes me want to scream. I go down there, and I see him, and...he looks...so much like her I can't...."  
  
"It was a horrible thing Zeal did to you."  
  
Silence settled over them again.  
  
"It wasn't Zeal. It was Lavos," Melchior broke the stillness at last, the tears in his voice only adding and edge to the quiet fury that laced his tone. "And if it takes all the strength I have, I swear I'll see to the end of that beast, and damn the consequences."  
  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  
Schala followed the worn path through the trees, her feet easily guiding her over the rough spots, her mind very far away.   
  
She did not like using the Earthbound as Zeal commanded; it struck her as wrong on some level she couldn't name. And when she'd actually seen the poor people it'd made her want to cry. Most of them had fleas, for Heaven's sake, and now they're forced to leave their homes and slave away obediently in horrible conditions to build a palace beneath the sea for a people that don't give a damn about them.  
  
No wonder they hate us.  
  
But there was no opposing the Queen, not even in this. Especially not in this, not with Lavos involved.  
  
Schala knew of the rumors running through court, knew of what was whispered about her mother and this obsession. She knew, too, of the real dangers involved, and as Zeal took most of the risks herself, there was nothing Schala could say to her on the matter.  
  
Or at least, nothing valid she could say. No reasons with support backing them that the Queen might listen to.  
  
Schala's dreams, of course, were not evidence, not even the most vivid of them.   
  
Dreams of Lavos, and the Mammon Machine, and three strange children tied up in it all. Dreams of fire and death and most of all blood -- oh gods, the things she saw about blood in her dreams. Dreams that were occurring more and more frequently.  
  
The trees around her began to thin, a sign that she was nearing the edge of the continent. It was a peaceful place, a place of solitude. She came here to think and be alone and just relax and let the rest of the world fall away beneath the clouds.   
  
The trees parted suddenly, revealing a dying sun that sank slowly beyond the lip of clouds on the horizon, the edge of Zeal Kingdom just before her, a small clearing in the trees and land.  
  
It was glowing with a sickly purple light cast by a little child with dark hair and a very determined expression on her face.   
  
A child, Schala knew for a fact, that was not Enlightened.  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  
It took a different kind of control than Ivy was used to, a mental kind, and it almost proved too much for her. Her blood didn't just burn, it became fire itself surging through every one of her veins. Her mind kind of sank in on itself until she was looking at the inside part of her body, the spiritual part, actually seeing the magic raging through her blood.   
  
The next step was a bitch.  
  
Ivy wrapped the magic around herself, drowned herself in the electric heat of it until the rush of wind was all she knew, all she'd ever known. Forming the picture of light in her mind, holding on to the idea of it, she willed a bit of her magic to break itself off and become a light.  
  
Ivy opened her eyes.  
  
The light glimmered a sickly purple. Warbling, gloomy, greasy looking _purple_.  
  
She sighed in defeat, and took her mind off of it. It fizzled and crackled back into oblivion, leaving her with a headache pounding at her temples.  
  
She didn't even want to think about the acid running through each and every one of her veins, its sluggish, throbbing, eating burn replacing the almost sensual feel of magic --  
  
'_Ivy.._.'  
  
She jerked, and whirled around, her hand already on one of the many daggers hidden in her robes. The trees proved to be empty, and she had a moment to calm down and realize the faint voice had spoken telepathically.  
  
'..._Uncle Siris?_'   
  
He sounded very far away, but she could still make out the chuckle. '_Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you_.'  
  
Hells. Ivy's eyes narrowed. '_I wasn't scared_.'  
  
'_Oh, really? Then what do you call it?_'  
  
'_Startled, is all_.' Ivy smiled quietly to herself when he laughed again. '_Now, are you going to tell me the real reason you're talking to me or would you like to tease me some more?_'  
  
Silence.  
  
'_Uncle?_' She could hear the worry in her tone.   
  
'_...I...have some...bad news_.'  
  
She waited.   
  
'..._Zeal is_...' Any hesitation abruptly left his voice, the words spilling quickly out of him. '_Zeal is building this thing, under the ocean. Some kind of Undersea Palace, or some shit. She wants it done quick, too, and...she decided there weren't enough Enlightened to do the job_...'  
  
Ivy could feel the anger building in her. '_Nooo_...'  
  
'_Yes. And that's not even the worst of it. Ivy, she...dammit, that bitch took everyone. I've only got about forty men left, and only me and three others -- the Beast's Nest guards -- are even capable of fighting_.'  
  
'_Siris, no, don't tell me that_...'  
  
'..._I'm sorry, but the plan isn't going to work. We don't have enough people. You'll have to think of something else_.'  
  
Ivy took a deep breath, closing her eyes tight and counting as high as it took for the seething anger to settle into something more manageable.  
  
Ivy let her gaze wander over the edge of the kingdom. The sinking sun cast everything in a bright red glow, like blood spilled over the clouds. A cool, robust wind lifted from the edge, found her, swirled around her.  
  
'_All right_,' she thought at last, releasing her breath and anger in a sigh. '_All right. We can still do this. Maybe not as thoroughly as I'd like, but there's still a chance_.'  
  
'_I'm listening_.' She did not like the amused, gentle tone to his voice and frowned.  
  
'..._We're closer to him now, in a better position for attack. We_ -- '  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"  
  
In a fraction of a second, Ivy had her daggers out, whirling to face the furious voice --   
  
Only to find herself eye to eye with Princess Schala.  
  
  
  
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Rast: Mmmm. I like this chapter, for some reason.   
  
Once again, I owe the, uh, 'speedy' creation of this chapter to Ollen70. I dunno why, just his reviews are for some reason inspirational so I am going to give him lots and lots of credit for being such a great reviewer. Not that all the others aren't, but the comment about liking how Janus and Ivy interact really made me smile...and then start chapter sixteen.   
  
I am working so hard not to make Ivy a Mary Sue, give her an actual personality, and all the while trying not to shove her down anyone's throat. Let me know if I end up doing that with any of the original characters, okay? Sometimes I can't tell when enough is enough.  
  
Also, I realize this chapter was mostly minor characters but it has purpose, I promise, and it's not just to show that Janus and Ivy aren't the only ones with direction in this story.   
  
I'm going to start pushing things now, speeding up the plot, so please let me know if you think something feels too rushed.   
  
I _will _have part one finished December 27. I will, I swear I will...unless I get hit any worse with writer's block. That'll be two chapters a week, instead of what has been one chapter per two weeks. Sigh. No social life for me, thanks.  
  
Okay, okay, I know I tend to ramble on these things so I'll shut up now...and go start chapter seventeen.  
  
...Review...?  
  
  
'S down there...just in case you were wondering.  
  
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	17. When Night Meets Day

**Thicker Than Blood****  
****  
Chapter 17  
  
When Night Meets Day**

  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  


"I really must protest. We have practiced for just such an emergency as -- "  
  
"Yeah, I know all about practicing procedures for emergencies. And there's always something missing."  
  
"Ridiculous! We take great pains to -- "  
  
"You always leave out the damn emergency."  
- Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time

  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  
  
7,000 AD  
  
  
  
"...Go over that again, please," Veil murmured quietly, eyes fixed on the screen. Her hands clenched on the back of Laven's seat, and he obediently pressed all the required buttons. Veil worked the genetics of their operation. It was all just mush to him.  
  
  
  
The screen flared from a dormant, subdued blue into a the bright, bubble-filled crimson shade of blood. Numbers flashed in rapid sequence, blending together until they formed three twisting, rotating DNA molecules, each a slightly different shade of red. Laven knew that in reality the strands looked pretty much the same, but he'd programmed the computer to change the DNA's appearance in according to the different percentages of its make-up. Veil stared, intently, orange eyes narrowed on the screen, until --   
  
  
  
"There. Pause it."  
  
  
  
The screen froze.  
  
  
  
"Magnify it."   
  
  
  
"Where?"   
  
  
  
She pointed to a section of the center molecule, the one colored the darkest shade of crimson. The picture zoomed in.  
  
  
  
They watched in silence as the image rotated slowly. "What was the farthest we ever got? Series X / 7, specimen F1-225." His sister's voice was barely audible over the quiet hum of the machines. "Call up the DNA."  
  
  
  
Laven did so, and returned to the full-sized screen. Now four double helixes were spinning leisurely on the blood-red background. The new one much smaller, much thinner, much more simple than its grotesque counterparts.   
  
  
  
"...How much of the Wild is in that one? The one of ours?"  
  
  
  
"Point three seven percent."  
  
  
  
"And in his?"  
  
  
  
Veil glanced at the parade of numbers dancing across the bottom of the screen. "You don't even want to know."  
  
  
  
"Veil, please, if it's that bad it won't matter if I know or not, we'll be--"  
  
  
  
"Seventy seven percent."  
  
  
  
Silence descended over them as Laven thought about what seventy seven percent of the Wild in something's blood could do. He thought about all the years they had put into that one skinny, pathetic little strand, all the grueling work, all the failure. But mostly what he thought about was how..._bad _the experiments turned out whenever Veil tried to ease more than point three something of Wild into the blood.  
  
  
  
The three monstrous strands dwarfed their own. They were darker, thicker, larger, and so much more complex it was almost a joke. Their own strand seemed sickly yellow against the deep vibrant crimson of the other three fuckers.  
  
  
  
Comparing the others to their own version of the DNA was like comparing a dragon to a newt.   
  
  
  
"And those monsters are DNA strands? Like our little guy here? Veil...this is sick."  
  
  
  
She wasn't even listening, vivid orange eyes locked on the screen. Laven tried to see what had her so fascinated, tried to read between the blood colored lines, and only succeeded in giving himself a migraine.  
  
  
  
Veil tapped a blue hued nail on the center strand. "This isn't one of ours. This isn't what he stole from us. These other two..." She trailed off, then nodded decisively. "These belonged to us, but this one... There wasn't even something like this from the original Wild specimen."  
  
  
  
"_What?_"  
  
  
  
"He's...modified the others, I suppose, but... It shouldn't be possible, not like this... It's almost like he's combined the other two, mutated them, to get this little monster. Laven...this isn't even on the charts, not at all, the computer won't even register how much power..."  
  
  
  
Laven stared at the twisting molecules in fascinated horror. "...That...that's possible, is it?"  
  
  
  
Veil took a deep breath, paused, exhaled slowly. Silence filled the cabin, broken only by the quiet hum of machinery. Then, finally, her tone laced with quiet urgency, "We have to tell mother."  
  
  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  
  
12,002 BC  
  
  
  
The Enlightened had not constructed much of the Ocean Palace, just the shell, just enough to allow the Earthbound to work without a world of dark, cold water crashing in on them. In some places, where there were still pieces missing -- engines for the elevators, networks of pipes -- only a magic shield stood against the liquid darkness.   
  
  
  
Despite the mostly awed and more than slightly pissed feelings of the other Earthbound, Victor Aloc, Roderrick's older half-brother, had feelings that ran a bit deeper than that. Still, he knew better than to fight it when the Enlightened stuck him alone in a little hole in the wall, shoved a heavy bundle of wires and tools in his hand, and gave him the most basic crash-course of how to install Backup Security System Number 10223/S version 9.2, and connect it all to the rest of the station without short-circuiting anything.   
  
  
  
Which seemed complicated, but really he just tied red wires to red ones, blue wires to blues ones and so forth.  
  
  
  
He worked with his back against the curving floor of the tunnel, reaching easily to the open panel bleeding wires above him. The cool metal tunnel continued on past him for a while, then widened until it was the size of the entire cave back home. The faint, pale blue light by which he worked came from the shield over the tunnel's open end, the only thing between Victor's life and frozen liquid oblivion.  
  
  
  
The silence was complete, strangely still, as if something great and huge were holding its breath and paused in waiting. Occasionally, beyond the pale glow of the magic in the dark depths, an even darker shadow would ease by, slowly, leisurely, utterly confident in its predatory skills.  
  
  
  
Victor had no problems with this. He knew all about monsters like the shadow. It was the monsters disguised in human flesh he hated with a kind of cool, focused intensity.  
  
  
  
'Unjust' didn't even come close the way Earthbound were treated. He'd seen, before the Enlightened had pulled him away. Not all of his people were lucky enough to be holed up in a pipe messing with wire. Most were being used to haul heavy equipment or clean mud from the walls or build with Dreamstone too soaked with magic to permit Enlightened assistance -- a few had even been snatched up as personal servants.   
  
  
  
It was sickening, how easily his fellow Earthbound submitted to their _betters_, how easily they forgot what Siris had been fighting for the last two years.   
  
  
  
Victor didn't forget.  
  
  
  
He worked patiently for hours, without once seeing another soul, until his back was one solid searing ache, and then he lay flat on his belly, stretched out over the cool, curving metal. Staring at the ocean beyond the magic. The veil of light concealing the darkness beyond. A bandage over a rotting wound. Almost exactly, he thought, like the Kingdom of Zeal.   
  
  
  
Victor crawled forward on his hands and knees until the tunnel rose and widened enough to allow him on his feet. He stopped just inches away from the barrier. Close enough to feel the electric heat. Close enough to have it drag on his breath, tighten his chest, make his eyes water.   
  
  
  
Victor's pale blue eyes went from the mass of wires in one hand, to the long trail of them leading back to the active panel, to the barrier before him.  
  
  
  
Shadows danced in the shifting light beyond.   
  
  
  
Often, in the long, painful course of history, it happened more that a single individual changed things in one moment much more swiftly, dramatically, than the slow shifts brought over time by the masses. It happened that one person, one life with nothing left to lose, with no mind to the consequences, would do things no other human would even consider in darkness of their nightmares.  
  
  
  
It happened again tonight.  
  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  
  
Left.  
  
  
  
Right.  
  
  
  
Left -- no, wait, a bunch of adults were in that hallway. Hide behind a plant until they walked away.  
  
  
  
Down the third hallway on the left and -- yes. Right there, second door to the window.  
  
  
  
Slowly, with an emphasis on the slow part, Janus navigated the maze of back hallways in the Palace until he stood before a nondescript wooden door just like all the rest.  
  
  
  
It was common sense, really. Guru Melchior said it all the time -- keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Janus didn't have any friends, and all right, she wasn't exactly what qualified as an enemy...as far as he knew. Better safe then sorry.  
  
  
  
He opened the door, quickly easing through and locking it behind him.  
  
  
  
...And found himself in a room even cleaner than his own, smelling sweetly of herbs. Cool, fresh wind blew through the room. Despite the cold outside, every single window open as wide as they went, bundles of herbs strung across them, leaves fluttering loosely in the breeze. Other than that, and the plain, worn gray bag on the pristine bed, the room was entirely void of any sign of its inhabitant.  
  
  
  
Unless she'd hidden things -- which he doubted, somehow -- the bag counted as the only thing in the room worth going through. He emptied it's contents on the bed, and stared down at them, disappointed.  
  
  
  
Old, worn books. A piece of what looked like an animal horn. Lots of jars of varying sizes and shapes; he unscrewed a lid, sniffed delicately, then wrinkled his nose at the sharp medicinal scent. The only other thing was a blue stuffed bird toy, with black bead eyes, and six wings each lined in silver thread on each edge. He picked it up, idly looking around the room, feeling, once again, strangely disappointed.  
  
  
  
_'Janus.' _Schala's crisp voice broke his thoughts. _'Where are you? Wait -- never mind.' _  
  
  
  
Forceful magic gripped him and for one nauseating second he was _nowhere_, suspend in painful white oblivion, and then, blinking away the blinding light, found himself in Schala's room.  
  
  
  
The heavy blue curtains had been drawn over the windows, and heavy darkness hung in the room. Only the fireplace gave any illumination, showing his sister leaning against the closed door, arms crossed, ice-hard eyes narrowed.  
  
  
  
Ivy sat at Schala's desk, in front of the fire, a cup of what smelled like tea in her hands.  
  
  
  
Schala didn't seem to notice the toy in still his hand, but Ivy did. Her dark blue gaze slid right from the bird to Janus' eyes, and this time he was the one to look away.   
  
  
  
"Janus, you had better have something good for this one -- "  
  
  
  
A gasp, shattering glass. They looked at Ivy, she was trembling, blue eyes wild. "It -- Schala, you -- "  
  
  
  
_'Schala! Gods, get down here now! Some little fucker blew a hole in the wall, we _need _you, these dumbass Earthbound are freaking and we can't control them!'_  
  
  
  
_'Wait, wait, slow down -- '_  
  
  
  
_'There's no time! We need you _now.'  
  
  
  
With a barely suppressed, growl, Schala glared at the two children. "All right. I've got to go." She caught Ivy's gaze. "We _will _finish this later." And with that, she was gone.  
  
  
  
  
___________________________  
  
  
  
  
  
Rast: Bllllllaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!  
  
  
  
Okay. I feel better now.  
  
  
  
I have had absolutely no time at all for writing these past weeks. Hell, I'm lucky I had time to eat. You wouldn't even believe me if I told you what I've been doing in every second of my spare time they could squeeze out of me. If chapter seventeen seems off it's cause I had to force it out in two minute intervals at such times as six AM before my day began, or midnight, when it ended. It's just been _crammed _these past couple of weeks. I really, really tried to get eighteen out as well, but it didn't want to work. I mean, I probably could have, but then I wouldn't have had time for such things as showers and food and sleep, and it wouldn't have been any good because I would have been grumpy and resentful about doing it.  
  
  
  
As a sidenote, the FF8 thing I posted when I updated this has been sittin' on my comp for the two months it took me to persuade myself to post it, so no, it didn't count as writing time.  
  
  
  
I think I'm gonna start commenting on yall's...um, wait, country roots showin' there...   
  
  
  
I'm gonna -- _going to_ -- start saying something in reply to your reviews, because they're all so nice and long and there aren't too many of you to complicate it. So far, my favorite reviews are the ones you all gave me for chapter sixteen.  
  
  
  
Starlie - I had _just _finished this chapter when I got your review and you didn't really say much but it made me insanely happy anyway just 'cause it proves I must be doing _something _right with this story, which I doubt at times. And I was going to wait another night before I posted this, just 'cause it feels rushed to me, but I'll put it up for you. Thanks so much for reviewing!  
  
  
  
Naner (AKA CheesyAss) - Thanks. But if you really like it as much as your review claims, I wouldn't have to blackmail you into reading it.  
  
  
  
Corry3000 - Huh. Twinkie in the Twilight Zone. I like that. I'm glad you like the way Janus is characterized -- at times it doesn't seem right to me, but then, I'm harsh on myself so maybe it's just me. 46 reviews certainly suggests so but...well, there are times when it doesn't seem good enough to me and I'm almost stupidly happy that so many people say they like the way I do Janus. And...as to your guess, I'm not saying anything 'till chapter twenty. You'll get it then.  
  
  
  
#1 Fan - At times I think I've bitten off more than I can chew with this -- I haven't even _started _on the plot until now, with that bit of Veil and Laven -- and I was very, _very _tempted to do flashbacks like you said, but then, Ivy would have been intrusive and -- well, _damn_. It'd have to be a hell of a lot of flashbacks. You'll see what I mean, when I finally do get to the post-game parts. I assure you, this pre-game stuff is 100% necessary.  
  
  
  
Rachel - I don't even have to say anything. You _know_.  
  
  
  
Ollen70 - I've always thought the same of Zeal, that she wouldn't have succumbed to Lavos willingly or out of greed, but rather for her own personal reasons -- protecting her children and her kingdom. ...And, yes, the profile is original. Not _exactly _real life, but mine, nonetheless. I'm glad you like it, I thought something like that would be more original than the usual a/s/l people put up, and I think it may actually be the first thing I've ever wrote that's not fantasy/sci-fi or fanfiction.  
  
  
  
FrickinEvilPoptart - I'm glad you like her, as I'm still really nervous about her, and your review helps make me realize I'm doing okay in not making her _too _prominent. I'll fade her back a bit, I'm still learning. And thanks for reminding me to put more Janus in. I think one of the reasons I haven't is because he makes me even more nervous, you know? I'm not sure if I'm doing his character right either and I'm the kind of person that lives by 'better safe than sorry' so I tend to have trouble with Janus since I'm not sure of him. Sorry! I'm working on it.  
  
  
  
And, for those of you that cannot find the way, the obligatory arrow should suffice.  
  
  
  
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	18. Friendly Fire

**Thicker Than Blood**

**Chapter 18**

**Friendly Fire**

* * *

There are many here among us

who think life is but a joke

but you and I, we've been through that;

this is not our fate.

Let us not speak falsely now, the hour's getting late.

- Bob Dylan, "All Along the Watchtower"

* * *

12,002 BC 

It had never happened that strong before. Never reached down into her mind and shattered all the borders between the nightmare and reality. Sure, the dreams had been bad. But the visions had never made her this sick at herself, never filled her with such disgust and self-loathing.

She couldn't stop her hands from shaking.

A thin stream of bright blood pooled on the table between her palms, mixing with the spilled tea among the broken pieces of the teacup, and she couldn't take her eyes away from it. Couldn't get her mind to widen enough to take in more than that crimson liquid spilling from her hands to the table.

"...Ivy?" She looked up, completely having forgotten about Janus. He approached her slowly, cautiously, and set the stuffed toy down on the table in front of her. Sat down in one of the chairs.

"Schala's okay," she whispered hoarsely. Her throat burned. Speaking hurt. "Schala's okay. They just want her to help clean up."

His face was unreadable. "She caught you."

"Yeah."

The corners of his mouth turned down, and his eyes shifted to the fireplace in one corner of the room. She couldn't tell if he were displeased or angry or what. "What did you tell her?" he asked, quietly.

One shoulder rose and fell in a shrug. "Nothing. She asked who I was and I said Ivy and she asked what was I doing and I said making light and she said why is an Earthbound using magic..."

Janus waited for her to continue, and when the silence held he turned to face her. "Ivy," he said, more sharply than he'd intended. The girl wouldn't meet his gaze.

"She said Janus is involved, isn't he, and I didn't know what to say to that so I told her yeah. And she brought me here and gave me tea." Ivy looked at the remains of it on the table. "I broke her teacup," she said, genuinely worried.

Janus sighed, deeply, lying his arms on the table and resting his head on them. Salvageble, then. No real damage had been done. He'd just have to lie to Schala. Again. And she would probably know he was lying, and he'd have to watch that dissipointment fill her eyes...

"We could always tell her the truth," he said.

Silence followed as they thought about this for a moment.

"We could," Ivy agreed.

This wasn't working. Janus let his eyes close. It was time to admit that this wasn't working, time to face the facts. There was nothing two kids could do that would have any effect on Lavos. If he thought Schala would actually help them -- but no, she'd never go against the Queen. Gods alone knew why, but Schala seemed to actually care for their mother. For all the good it did her.

All right, he thought. All right. Objective one: protect Schala. Objective two: kill Lavos. But how were they supposed to manage that? A bow and arrow wouldn't do much good against it. And neither could use magic worth a damn.

"What we need," he said quietly, without opening his eyes, "is someone to fight for us. We've been too disorganized.

"Melchior," she said, without hesitating. "And Belthasar. Gaspar... I'd rather not count on him." She was quiet for a moment, and Janus sat up just as she was opening her mouth.

"No," he said. And the quiet anger in his voice surprised both of them. "We are _not _getting Schala involved."

Ivy just looked at him, pity _very_ clear in her dark blue eyes. Janus exhaled slowly, gritting his teeth. Fighting the urge to just _slap_ her.

"Janus," she said quietly. "Maybe you haven't noticed -- Schala is _already_ involved in this."

* * *

The one-eyed Nu faded into being in the middle of Dalton's room. It blinked sleepily for a moment, and then looked around as if taking stock. Oh, this would not do. Not at _all_. Its small pig's nostrils flared, taking in a stink that was almost palpable. No wonder Dalton was in such a mess -- poor, poor man. The Nu's eye stopped on the bottles of alchohol on the dresser, and it made a noise that may have been a sigh. All the years, all they had worked for hung in balance, ready to fall at any moment. No time for any mistakes now, the Nu thought. No time... And Dalton reaches farther into darkness each day.

The windows of the room were open, and it was full daylight outside. But darkness crawled in the corners like a solid presence, and though a wind blew the air hung dead and still.

No wonder Dalton was near mad. The Nu could feel the thin edges of the world in this place as easily as it could feel the floor beneath its feet.

It all came to rest on two arrogant, ignorant children and one half-insane man. The Nu shivered, a little, and pulled the box from beneath Dalton's bed. It looked through the book for a few moments, its body going more and more still with each page turned.

Shadows and dreams, it thought. Closed the book and its lone eye. All is shadows and dreams now.

And a few momemts later, the room was empty once again.

* * *

"And you say someone did this _purposely_?" 

"Not really much other way, Miss."

Schala could only stare at the wounded Earthbound gathered in the large chamber around her, the reports in her hand of how much damage had been done. Some of the 'men' were little older than Janus. And from what they were saying, it had been a boy that had done this. A child, taking his own life, not caring about who might get caught in the backlash...

Why? she thought as she began issuing orders for cleanup and repair. Surely we don't treat them that bad. They live in caves, another part of her whispered. Even someone with magic would have trouble with the monsters down there. The monsters they have to eat, before they starve or get eaten themselves. The land is locked, frozen, and the people are starting to freeze with it.

The healers walked carefully among the Earthbound, reluctantly doing their work and picking their way though the mass of ragged people without really touching a single one.

We use them and walk all over them and don't even think twice about it, when really they're just like us. Harder, colder, with more scars than we understand. We expect them to leave their families and come here and slave away for us, and we aren't even paying them, we treat them like shit and think they deserve it.

Maybe _we_ deserve it...

"Schala?"

She tore her eyes away from the dark abyss held at bay by a small bit of magic, and narrowed them at Dalton. She cleared her throat. "Yes?"

"Bethashar asked me to tell you that the damage isn't as extensive as it seems." Seeing the fleeting horror in her eyes, mistaking it for something else, he added quickly, "It's only superficial, he says. Looks worse than it is. More structural than anything important."

Like lives? she thought fiercely before she could stop herself. Like those poor people who left bits of themselves in some of the tunnels? Important like the boy who blew himself into a thousand pieces to tell us_ I'm hurting, and no one cares enough to stop it_? But she only said, "Thank you, Dalton." And she found herself staring past the guardsman and into the deep, accusing eyes of an old man with blood streaming down his face. Schala cleared her throat again, met Dalton's slightly confused eyes and said with false brightness, "Do you think, perhaps, you could give me a hand for a moment?"

None of them thanked her. More than a few growled cruses under their breath or spat in the dirt when she finished with them. It seemed as if every single Earthbound down there had at least a few gashes or shrapnel stuck in them. It was odd, Schala thought, that they were all wounded and not a single Enlightened bore more than a scratch. And when she said as much to Dalton while they worked side-by-side on two old grizzled men, one with an ear torn off, and one with a shard of Dreamstone embedded in his thigh, Dalton merely shrugged.

"Of course. What did you expect? That's what they're here for -- begging your pardon, sir," he added when the old Earthbound spit a gob of saliva on his shiny boot.

"But -- "

"They're Earthbound, Schala." He began wrapping a bandage around the man's head. "Who cares?"

No one, she was beginning to realize. And that was the problem. "Some of them are _children _-- "

"We start early," her patient said, a grinned toothlessly at her horror.

"How could you _possibly _joke at a thing like this -- " She stopped when she found her hand engulfed by his leathery one. Calluses and scars pressed against her flawless skin.

"Wasn't no joke, your highness, begging your pardon. You wanna think it's wrong, you wanna look at us in here breakin' our backs for you and be horrified, well, go right ahead. Means you still got some humanity left, and that's more than can be said for most of you Enlightened." He spat the word, his bright blue eyes boring into hers. "But just feelin' ain't gonna change a damn thing, and it ain't gonna stop the way your people treat us. Do something. You're the princess, the heir; it'll all belong to you one day. Are you going to sleep comfortably in your safe, warm bed at night knowing little kids are starving for just a scrap of bread or are you going to serve _all _your people and give it to them?"

Dalton looked over and frowned, swatting the old man's hand away from hers. "Keep your paws off her, old man. And stop filling her head with that garbage." He looked at Schala, plainly disgusted. "Don't listen to him. They all try that."

"But -- "

He wasn't listening, staring at someone over behind her. "Come on," he said, pulling her to her feet by her shoulder. "Queen Zeal's waiting to talk to you."

* * *

Rast: Life...is very, very weird. I'm not going to bore you with the details -- if anyone out there is actually reading this, damn, its been a whole year since I've updated -- so, suffice to say, EVERYTHING changed for me in very big ways. I couldn't write. It was...impossible. 

And that's all the dirty laundry I'm going to wash in public, for the moment.

Sorry for the long wait. I hope this chapter isn't dissipointing for anybody. It may take me a few chapters to get things back the way they were. I haven't written anything in a long time, and I'm more than a little bit rusty. Sorry this chapter wasn't longer.


	19. Our Corner of the Night

**Thicker Than Blood **

Chapter 19

Our Corner of the Night

Our paths may be different, but our goals are the same.  
- Elhaym Van Houten, Xenogears

12,002 BC

The torches guttered on the walls along the corridor, throwing wild shadows. The pre-storm night wind that fought them also caught Schala's hair and robes, whipping them around her. The wind carried with it the scent of burning hair and honeysuckles.

"Princess Schala!"

Her keen ears caught Dalton's hoarse bellow over the wind and she ignored him. The hand print on her left cheek showed up bright against her pale skin, and blood trickled down from where Zeal's rings had sliced her face open.

"Princess Schala, wait one gods damned minute!"

_Those cold, dark eyes narrowing ever so slightly at the corners. "Schala, I will not tolerate this behavior from you for even one minute longer. They are _Earthbound_, Schala. Have you forgotten what that means? Or do you enjoy whoring yourself to animals?" _

Schala's mouth dropped open. "Mother, what are you talking about? I was healing them! I don't understand why you w--"

A dark, crimson light slithered through Zeal's eyes, and Schala caught herself short.

"Mother? Are you--"

Zeal slapped her so hard that Schala fell to her knees, her ice-colored eyes wide in shock, her hand pressing over the cuts on her cheek in a futile attempt to stop the flow of blood.

Cold fingers clamped onto her chin and forced her head around. Zeal's violet eyes bored into her own. The Queen's face seemed lined with steel and her teeth were clenched shut so hard the tendons stood out on her jaw.

"Do not talk back to me, Schala. I am not in a mood for your bitching.'"

"Schala, wait!" Dalton's shout broke her out of her thoughts. She increased her pace without turning around. "Listen--"

"Fuck off, Dalton, I'm _busy_."

The Guard Captain nearly slowed -- anyone else would have fled at the acid in that tone. Then he narrowed his eyes and lengthened his stride, longer legs quickly closing the distance between them. The storm had not yet dropped any rain, but the air was damp and moisture clung to the walls. A few torches still guttered on the walls, casting Schala's face into a mask of shadows and blood. She scowled at her distorted reflection in the slick marble floor.

He caught her arm to make her listen and she wrenched it out of his grasp. Dalton clenched his teeth. "Your Highness, there is something very important I need to discuss with--"

Lightning flickered outside, briefly illuminating the wind-torn kingdom below before darkness reclaimed it. Schala hissed through her teeth, and for a moment he saw Zeal stalking alongside him.

Schala snarled at him. "Shove it, okay? I don't have time for--"

Dalton grabbed her shoulders and slammed her against the wall, leaning down toward her as lightning flashed once more. He caught her wide-eyed, breathless expression before the world went dark and the rain came crashing down.

* * *

The rain still poured when, much later, Schala opened the door to her rooms, her mind so far away that she didn't, at first, see Janus in a chair in front of the fire, and even then the shadows hid his eyes.

"Your clothes are soaked," he said. She tried to ignore the feeling of being scolded as she dried her hair with a towel.

"It _is _raining." She didn't notice the way his eyes narrowed at her absent tone of voice. For a while, only the sounds of the storm outside and the crackling fire broke the silence. Schala, lost in her thoughts, and Janus leaning forward in his chair to watch her.

"I sent Ivy back to her rooms," he said after a while.

She sighed, moving to sit in front of the fire. She gathered her long hair and brought it over one shoulder, out of the range of any errant sparks.

"Oh. Yes." Schala frowned. "That..." She narrowed her eyes at him. "That _Earthbound _child."

The irritation relieved most of the worry building in his chest. Probably she'd just worn herself out healing people. "Yeah."

Brother and sister glared at each other for another silent moment.

"So," she said after a while. "You're going to play stubborn?"

"Of course." Janus leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. "Although, you could always make this easier on yourself and just let it go."

"Janus, you know I can't do that," she said, lowering her voice. Steam began to rise off her back as the heat of the fire dried her robes. "She is an Earthbound child using _magic_. Do you have any idea what this means for us? For our entire kingdom? Janus, our whole way of life is based on--"

"Why do you persist in thinking of me as some dumb child?" Janus did not bother to hide the condescension in his voice. "She's not an Earthbound."

"She has--"

"_She's not an Earthbound._"The whip crack of his voice silenced her, and this time when they glared at each other it was with real heat.

"I see," Schala said quietly after a while. "Would you care, then, Janus, to explain to me exactly what it is she's doing here?"

Schala watched thoughts flicker through his violet eyes as he decided what to tell her. "She's...helping me destroy Lavos."

"_What?_" The fire jumped a little in the hearth, beginning to dim. Neither took notice of it.

"Stay out of it. I don't want you mixed up in this, Schala."

She laughed. Outside the windows, the storm raged. "Oh, Janus. We are all mixed up in this."

He seemed to be considering her again. In the dying light of the fire, the shadows on his face were only that: shadows. She wondered what he saw when he looked at her. She wondered if he could see her shadows.

"What happened to your face?"

Shrewd kid, her brother. Always noticed the one thing you wanted to hide. "Mother slapped me."

"Schala?"

"Yes, Janus?"

He seemed unsure of himself, very much a child. She felt the straining wildness in her relax a little.

"Why were you in the rain?"

_Damn _him and his insight. "Why do you think?"

Janus stood up and came towards her, touching her face very gently. "Schala," he said, then hesitated before continuing. "She doesn't love you, Schala."

She had no idea where the tears came from, they just welled up and spilled over. Janus wrapped his arms around her until she could breath without sobbing. She pressed her face against his shoulder. He smelled like soap and books and her little brother.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, miserable. "I didn't mean--"

Schala pulled away to wipe her face. "No, it's... It's okay. You had no way of knowing." She could feel him building up to say something.

"You know I love you, don't you?"

"Of course. And I love you, too."

"Schala?"

She looked up at him. In the moonlight, his eyes seemed almost crimson.

"Good night, Schala."

"Good night, Janus. Sweet dreams."

Long after he left, she sat in the silence and the dark and watched the stars come out.

* * *

Janus quietly closed the door behind him, his thoughts racing. So, she knew of Lavos's danger, then. And Zeal's too, although he knew without a doubt that Schala would never turn against the woman they called Mother. Janus would never understand why Schala loved her when Zeal clearly cared about her daughter only as a tool to fulfill her schemes.

_It's sad_, he thought walking toward his rooms, _when children must protect each other against their parents_. But then, who else was there? No one. He was on his own -- well, pretty much on his own. Ivy only counted as an ally because they had the same enemy. And he wanted to keep Schala out of their plans as much as possible. She had this silly idea that he was a child and shouldn't involve himself in adult affairs. Which was complete and total bullshit. (She knew it, too. She'd been officially welcomed to the court as Zeal's heir at his age.)

He wondered, opening the door to his rooms, where she'd _really _been--

Janus stopped. The moonlight beaming in through the windows gave him clear view. Some _stupid _bitch who didn't know how to follow orders... His stomach tried to claw its way up his throat and his skin felt like it was crawling off his body. There was always one. _Always_. He figured it wasn't _too _complicated. _Earthbound _could probably do it. But -- someone had _cleaned _his rooms. Some stupid ass _bitch _had been in there _touching _his things, contaminating every gods damned _inch_.

He looked down. His hands were shaking.

Janus took all of his things out of his room and arranged them in the hallway. His large collection of books (stolen from various sources) on magic theory -- a study that had begun as research into his lack of power and quickly deepened into genuine interest -- and all of his own notebooks on star formations he sorted by subject, then alphabetized them and piled them on a windowsill. He pulled all the blankets and sheets from his bed, folding them and stacking them atop the mattresses, which his pushed out of his room to a far corner of the hall. He would have Schala burn them in the morning. He stood for a long time looking at the remaining furniture; bookshelves, and his desk. In the end, he decided that they were only surface-contaminated. He pushed them into the hall with his other possessions, leaving only the bed frame in his room. This he disassembled, laying the parts in front of his door so that no one could simply walk in.

He filled a bucket with hot water and soap, rolled up his sleeves. He got on his hands and knees with a clean floor brush that he kept solely for this purpose. He worked slowly in the silver moonlight, and only the steady sound of scrubbing broke the silence. His hair kept falling into his face, and he finally broke down and tied it back. Despite the cold marble floor and the breeze from the open windows, his pale skin soon became covered in a thin sheen of sweat.

Janus worked with steady, single-minded intensity well into morning. Enlightened began their day early, and the few whose tasks brought them by the prince's room took one glance at the fierce, unhappy glare in his violet eyes and his tight-lipped expression before hurrying to Schala.

In a way, he liked cleaning. He liked the simplicity of it, the empty-minded focus required for the job. After a while, the anger faded as he fell into the familiar rhythm; sloshing the hot, soapy water on the marble floor, kneeling in the suds to scrub away the contamination, occasionally breaking the pattern for more water. Eventually, his hands began to bleed from exerting too much pressure on the rough wooden backing of the scrub brush, but Janus wrapped them absently with strips of fabric torn from the sleeves of his robes.

He remembered how everyone had acted the first time he'd done this. Like he was possessed or insane. Even Schala had been hard pressed to explain his actions.

_Janus... What the hell are you doing?_

He hadn't looked up at her, a frown of concentration etched deep on his face. _She contaminated it. _

...She cleaned it, Janus.

Irritation flashed through him at her failure to understand, although he hadn't fully understood either. The bone-deep feeling of..._violation_ that made his skin crawl.

He'd been...what, five? Six? In the years since, the palace cleaning staff had adjusted to his peculiarities. They left his room untouched, except for the occasional mistake. When she realized Janus would need some sort or permanent arrangement, Schala had a quiet talk with them. Ever since, Janus kept up the room himself; dusting, sweeping, mopping -- he even did his own laundry.

The need to keep his room free of contamination was, as far as everyone else knew, the extent of his strangeness. And he intended to keep their ignorance intact.

* * *

After he'd completed the plans for the Ocean Palace, Zeal seemed to forget Belthashar existed, and he took full advantage of this. The dream that had plagued him for the long months the Ocean Place took up his time could, at last, be realized. Now, today, Belthashar stood on the balcony of his room and watched the night slip away. Stars faded to the brightening sky. The completed blueprints lay on the desk in the room behind him, secured by a chunk of Dreamstone. He thought, maybe, a week for construction and then his dream would soar the skies of Zeal as it did his mind.

He did not seem to notice the trickle of blood leaking from his nose, but wiped it away absently and leaned against the railing.

Belthashar found it too easy to set his mind adrift in the world of facts and alloys and ratios of wind-shear to optimum craft speed. Turning his thoughts to simple, daily things required more and more effort. He stopped eating, and was secretly relieved when no one noticed.

_Only a matter of time, now_.

He stopped himself when this thought drifted quietly across the tempest of his mind. The Guru of Reason watched the sun rise above the clouds, his soul in a rare state of tranquility.

He thought, _Isn't everything?_

* * *

"I'm bored."

Schala looked up from the reports on the reconstruction of the Ocean Palace to meet the gaze of her little brother. He leaned against her desk, chin propped up in one hand, soft hair falling around his face.

"Mm. Kinda busy here, Janus."

The violet eyes narrowed. "Can't you take a break?"

She sighed, internally, and shoved an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "No. I'm sorry, Janus, but--"

He rolled his eyes. "_Mother _wants you to finish it yesterday, am I right?"

She glared at him but said nothing. _What happened to the sweet little Janus from last night?_

As if reading her thoughts -- perhaps he had -- he said, "The maids went in my room."

"I'll send someone to burn the sheets and replace the mattresses," she said, bending over her work again. He didn't move. "Really, Janus, I don't have time."

"But I'm _bored_."

"Get a hobby." Schala caught his eyes when Janus opened his mouth. "_Other _than complaining," she added, and returned to her books as he _finally _walked away.

She would, later, come to regret those words.

* * *

"You want me to _what?_"

Janus sighed and forked a hand through his hair. These people were giving him a headache. First Schala, now Ivy _and_ he'd gotten no sleep. _Something_ bad was in the works for an unsuspecting Enlightened today. He needed to relieve some stress.

"When it does come down to fighting Lavos, I'd like to have some idea of what I'm doing."

They were alone in the clearing in the forest. Ivy lay stretched out on her belly with a book and Janus had removed his shoes to dangle his toes in the water. Dappled-green sunlight filtered in through the branches and leaves above them, and the trees swayed and sighed gently in the wind. The scent of rain clung to everything, almost masking out the scent of all the blooming honeysuckles.

Ivy stared at him for a long moment in silence, dark blue eyes calculating. "Alright," she said finally, and stood up.

He blinked at her. "What, _now?_"

"Yes, now. Why, you got something better to do?"

Janus stood up, brushing grass from his robes. He tried and failed to hide his scowl of irritation. Smart-mouthed little bitch. He almost looked forward to Lavos, just so he wouldn't have to put up with Ivy any longer. The way she watched him now, her eyes dark, her expression carefully blank.

"Okay," she said, stepping close to give him a dagger that appeared from no where. "This is how you hold it..."

An hour or so later, he flopped back down beside the stream, trying to catch his breath. Ivy sat a little ways off, dangling her feet in the water as well. Silence fell between them. Janus stretched out on his back in the thick grass with his arms folded under his head. He allowed his eyes to flutter shut.

That was the best feeling in the world, drifting off to sleep. The only sound was his own breathing and the stream gurgling.

Ivy's voice shattered the peaceful world. "So, Schala doesn't care about what we're doing?"

Janus grit his teeth. "No," he said shortly, without opening his eyes. "I don't think she does."

Silence fell once more. Good. She'd gotten the hint. Maybe she wasn't as dumb as she seemed after all.

"Janus?"

_Damn_. Then again...

He opened his eyes as wide as they'd go, and stared up at the branches above his head. "Yeah?"

"...Do you think Schala would teach me magic?"

He snorted. _Hell no_. _Schala wouldn't give you the time of day. She thinks you're a threat to the Kingdom. I think you're too much of a bitch to be anything else. _"No," he said after a while, "but you can still ask her."

* * *

"Teach me."

It was the same everyday. It had begun the day after the tragedy in the Ocean Palace, nearly two weeks ago, and had not since ceased. Schala did not even look up from her work.

"No."

"Teach me, or I will teach myself."

"Then go," Schala said indifferently, turning one paper over and copying down formulas from a book. "Or do not go, but in either case you are standing in my light."

Movement. The candle was placed on the desk before her. Irritated, she looked up with narrow eyes and met Ivy's gaze as the girl quietly brought her hands together on the flame and extinguished it. They glared at one another in the darkness. Schala found herself thinking something she often thought when she met Janus's eyes: _These eyes are not the eyes of a child_.

"Teach me," Ivy said again.

"No."

The girl bowed her head and left.

* * *

Later that night when the castle had assembled for dinner, Schala found that scene playing over and over again in her mind.

_Teach me. _

No.

The hands closing over the flame.

_Teach me. _

No.

Beside her, Janus had been diligently sawing away at his food. The knife slipped and sliced into his hand. Nothing serious, but blood dripped into his broccoli before he could get his hand out of the way.

He growled under his breath. "Hells."

Pulling out of her thoughts, Schala said absently, "Don't use that kind of language. You're spending too much time with that girl."

Janus wrapped his hand in a napkin and picked up the knife again. He didn't look at her. "It is none of your business who I choose to spend my time with."

Schala's eyes narrowed very slightly at the corners. She turned to glare at him. _The hell it isn't_. "She is a bad influence on you. I would have thought you'd choose your friends more wisely."

Still not looking at her, Janus licked the gravy on his knife. He knew how much she hated it when he did that. "She isn't my friend," he said.

That caught her by surprise. "No? I thought--"

"You thought wrong."

There was a long pause as she considered him, then he turned to meet her gaze calmly, and once again Schala found herself thinking, _These are not the eyes of a child._

"You and she are not...friends," she said slowly, watching as he meticulously separated bloody broccoli from clean.

"No." She recognized the tolerant yet impatient voice he used when speaking to someone he thought to be very stupid.

"Then what...?"

Janus speared a piece of broccoli on his fork and stared at it a moment. "We are...business partners," he said at last, returning to his meal and leaving her alone with her thoughts.

* * *

"Again," he growled under his breath, experimentally rolling the aching shoulder he'd landed on.

Ivy flipped the dulled practice daggers over in her hands so that she held them by the blades, offering them to him.

"You're going to hurt yourself."

"The castle is full of healers." Janus took the daggers and narrowed his eyes at her. "Again."

They circled each other in the long grass, one waiting patiently for an attack while the other searched for a weak point. He ignored the sting of sweat in the burst blisters on his hands. He lunged, she dodged. Thrust, parry, counter thrust, and they moved around each other with renewed caution.

The sun had yet to rise over the edge of the kingdom, and shadows covered most of the land. He moved carefully in the dew-slick grass. A few crickets still chirped, but most had gone underground with the first bird song rising from the forest that blocked off all but one side of the clearing. The other side was the edge to Zeal Kingdom, and a long fall to the world below.

"Schala was talking about you last night," Janus said, watching for an opening.

"Oh?"

He lunged again. Ivy twisted her shoulder out of the way, grabbed his wrist and used his own momentum to roll him neatly over one knee and onto the ground.

Janus winced. At least this time he'd landed on his other shoulder. Ivy stood some distance away, waiting for him to stand up, holding out the daggers that she had, once again, taken.

"Don't you remember what I said about leaving your guard open? Something like, 'Don't do it'?" Janus narrowed his eyes, refusing to answer. "Again?"

He stood. "Of course."

They began to circle each other once more. He lunged, she dodged. Thrust, parry, counter thrust. Even in the weak early morning sunlight he'd broken into a sweat.

"Are you going to teach me how to use a sword when I learn how to use these?"

"I don't know how to use a sword. Once you're strong enough, I'm going to teach you how to fight dirty."

"Like an Alleganian?"

"I was thinking more like a girl," she admitted. Janus glared at her, and grit his teeth. Ivy smiled. "Good," she said. "You're getting control over your anger."

They continued the pattern of attack and dodge for a while in silence.

"Schala thinks you're a bad influence." She only narrowed her eyes. After a while, preparing to attack her again, he said, "I think she's right."

One moment he stood watching her, and the next he lay face down in the dirt with her boot grinding into his injured shoulder. He hissed an expletive through his teeth.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"That you're a bitch."

Ivy fought hard against the impulse to roll him over the edge of the kingdom. She settled for spitting in his hair and leaving him in the dirt.

Janus sat up and glared at her retreating back. "When are you going to learn proper respect for royalty, bitch?"

"When you learn to watch your mouth."

"I thought you said something about learning to control anger!"

Ivy turned around at the edge of the trees, her eyes blazing as brightly as his. "Fuck you, asshole! How's that for control?"

* * *

Rast: Life...really sucks, doesn't it? Like the whole universe is holding up a sign that says FUCK YOU.

...Anyway...

Suggestions, comments, questions... The little button is down there...


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